Columbia Trust Co 01012016 Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Columbia Trust Co 01012016 lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,210 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,484 shares during the quarter. Columbia Trust Co 01012016’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at $45,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Melius cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $49.77 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $49.78 and its 200 day moving average is $50.94. The company has a market capitalization of $201.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 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 company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 3.21%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

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.