Hickory Point Bank & Trust Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 13,243 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $784,000. Cisco Systems comprises about 0.7% of Hickory Point Bank & Trust’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. PCG Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $756,000. Sharkey Howes & Javer purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Sherman Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $76,000. Onefund LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Onefund LLC now owns 10,885 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $644,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $243,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.01, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.