Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. Purchases 1,690 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,716 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.4% of Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 17.0% in the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $33,830,000 after acquiring an additional 92,179 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $63.81 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.66. The company has a market capitalization of $253.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems 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.