Colonial Trust Advisors Cuts Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Colonial Trust Advisors trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 116,550 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,632 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Hawaii grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 45,243 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,678,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 90.4% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Financial Ltd. now owns 62,059 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,674,000 after acquiring an additional 29,466 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 243,263 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,401,000 after acquiring an additional 105,252 shares during the period. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,123 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $303,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, DRW Securities LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 113.9% in the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 31,384 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,858,000 after acquiring an additional 16,711 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 9.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $58.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $231.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Cisco Systems

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.