Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 24,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 822 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,238,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $50.04. The stock had a trading volume of 5,096,209 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,715,580. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.14, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.94.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 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 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.42.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% 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.