Principle Wealth Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 189,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 732 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $505,000. Benin Management CORP raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 37,543 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Intergy Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $218,000. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,759 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,224,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rezny Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $1,046,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. Barclays lifted their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.86. The stock had a trading volume of 14,658,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.04. The firm has a market cap of $193.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. 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 current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Cisco Systems 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.