Capital Investment Counsel Inc Has $12.20 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Capital Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 206,091 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 19,445 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.8% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $12,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Boston Financial Mangement LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 67,514 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,997,000 after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $549,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,592,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $153,452,000 after purchasing an additional 145,835 shares during the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 9,076 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LMG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 37,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,224,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.01. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $257.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.87%.

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.