Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 4,819 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Congress Asset Management Co. lowered its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 251,200 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 4,819 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded down $0.98 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.17. The stock had a trading volume of 14,020,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,142,912. 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 cap of $254.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $59.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.46. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $265,789.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,419,921.53. The trade was a 9.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,573 shares of company stock worth $4,392,619 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.