Heritage Investors Management Corp Trims Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Heritage Investors Management Corp lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 678,913 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 3,143 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up 1.3% of Heritage Investors Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $40,192,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after buying an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $64.08 on Thursday. 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, 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 $61.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.61. The company has a market capitalization of $254.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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 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 2.56%. 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%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. 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.

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.