Becker Capital Management Inc. Lowers Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Becker Capital Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 737,768 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 14,364 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises about 1.4% of Becker Capital Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Becker Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $43,676,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pflug Koory LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $709,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $65.05.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company's 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.10 during trading on Monday, reaching $59.43. The stock had a trading volume of 4,670,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,206,763. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $236.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.95, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $59.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.36. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Company 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.