North Star Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,172 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

North Star Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,517 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,172 shares during the quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,350,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 39,181 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares during the last quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $219,000. Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 29,056 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,562,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 33,003 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,774,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SignalPoint Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 12,870 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $692,000 after acquiring an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, 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 valued at $972,080 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $48.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,849,321 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,304,797. 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 $194.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.20.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

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.