Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 51,531 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,145 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.0% of Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,051,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,336,000 after buying an additional 19,800 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 74.7% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,326 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,160,000 after buying an additional 41,625 shares in the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,812 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,651,000 after buying an additional 702 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,879,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $100,028,000 after acquiring an additional 34,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 105,069 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,592,000 after purchasing an additional 4,759 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $62.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.47. The firm has a market cap of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. 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 declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.