Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Has $23.58 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 398,229 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,569 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.9% in the third quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 51,032 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the period. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 15.3% in the third quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 57,948 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,084,000 after acquiring an additional 7,675 shares during the period. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.0% in the third quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 51,489 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 69,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,723,000 after acquiring an additional 5,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $64.14 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.23 and its 200-day moving average is $56.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.01, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.