Tufton Capital Management Sells 4,250 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Tufton Capital Management trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 116,322 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,250 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% in the fourth quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CSCO. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America raised 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $48.02. 3,873,294 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,365,287. The stock has a market cap of $194.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

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.