Key Financial Inc Cuts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Financial Inc decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,761 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 517 shares during the period. Key Financial Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cardinal Capital Management grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 153,517 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,088,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,142 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 35,373 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,094,000 after purchasing an additional 5,525 shares during the period. Beta Wealth Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 9,319 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 178,373 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,560,000 after purchasing an additional 14,102 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.64. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership 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.