Citizens & Northern Corp Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Citizens & Northern Corp cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 32,530 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 343 shares during the quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,643,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,528,939,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,672,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,345,954 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,727,214 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $895,576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,989,543 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Cisco Systems by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,753,165 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth approximately $179,207,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $46.54. 11,155,206 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,347,127. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.39. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.20 and a 52-week high of $58.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.18. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 21.88% and a return on equity of 30.82%. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems 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 directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,457 shares of company stock valued at $1,358,772 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.