Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Wellington Shields & Co. LLC

Key Points

• Wellington Shields & Co. LLC has reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.8%, selling 4,150 shares to hold a total of 25,837 shares valued at approximately $1,594,000.
• Several hedge funds increased their stakes in Cisco, with Brighton Jones LLC boosting theirs by 49.5% and AllianceBernstein L.P. by 50.3% during the fourth quarter.
• Cisco's stock is currently rated as a "Moderate Buy" by analysts, with an average price target of $70.35 and a consensus suggesting growth in earnings per share (EPS) to 3.04 for the current year.

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 13.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,837 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 4,150 shares during the period. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,594,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,392,000 after buying an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 50.3% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,627,956 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $392,375,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219,311 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 82,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,871,000 after purchasing an additional 29,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 243,781 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $14,432,000 after purchasing an additional 14,626 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.35.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $1.30 on Friday, reaching $66.79. 2,724,325 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,085,338. The stock has a market cap of $264.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.66. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.