Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Cuts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 417,549 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,075 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 1.8% of Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $24,719,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.64.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

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.