Westchester Capital Management Inc. Sells 5,404 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Westchester Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 257,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,404 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 3.8% of Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.60. The company has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. 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. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication 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.