Canopy Partners LLC Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Canopy Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 63.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,171 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,909 shares during the period. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pflug Koory LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 4.8 %

CSCO opened at $54.54 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $61.91 and its 200-day moving average is $58.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. 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. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.