Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 32,100 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Key Points

• Hennessy Advisors reduced its Cisco stake by 21.6%, selling 32,100 shares in Q4 and now holds 116,600 shares valued at about $8.98 million.
• Brokerages have raised ratings and price targets—multiple upgrades recently—leaving Cisco with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target of $89.81.
• Cisco beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.04 vs. $1.02) with revenue up 9.7% year-over-year and announced a higher quarterly dividend of $0.42 (1.9% yield).

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 116,600 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 32,100 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smith Salley Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management now owns 73,300 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,646,000 after acquiring an additional 1,839 shares in the last quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Benchmark Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,971 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 55.5% during the fourth quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,961 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840 shares in the last quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Arcataur Capital Management LLC now owns 10,022 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davidson Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. Davidson Trust Co. now owns 17,565 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,353,000 after acquiring an additional 3,593 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. HSBC lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore raised Cisco Systems from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.81.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $86.25 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $340.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $88.18. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $79.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 58.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 551 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.54, for a total transaction of $42,724.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,957 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,167,785.78. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 19,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $1,485,420.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 671,095 shares in the company, valued at $51,003,220. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.

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