Essex Savings Bank Trims Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Essex Savings Bank decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 34,758 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 754 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,886 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,646,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Cushing Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $1,003,000. Five Oceans Advisors purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $332,000. Bell Bank raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.6% in the first quarter. Bell Bank now owns 205,706 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,694,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.9% during the first quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 22,085 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $65.33 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.66. The firm has a market cap of $258.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CSCO. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,931 shares of company stock worth $4,671,930 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems 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.