St. James Investment Company LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

St. James Investment Company LLC decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 436,901 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 34,265 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 3.6% of St. James Investment Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. St. James Investment Company LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $22,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,831 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CSCO. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $48.17. The company had a trading volume of 4,341,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,510,371. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $195.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70, a PEG ratio of 2.78 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.15 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 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.