VeraBank N.A. Increases Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

VeraBank N.A. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,035 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,262,000 after acquiring an additional 3,753,165 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $179,207,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,074.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,271,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $175,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,749,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $391,498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $47.12. The stock had a trading volume of 17,935,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,219,910. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $190.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $48.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.