Ballast Inc. Has $1.06 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ballast Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,040 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 326 shares during the quarter. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,831 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.42.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $49.91 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.93. 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 stock has a market cap of $202.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS 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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.42%.

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.