Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 904,829 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,963 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 2.2% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $53,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FMR LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after buying an additional 3,975,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.23 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $60.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.61.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.50.

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.