Amalgamated Bank Cuts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Amalgamated Bank trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 778,512 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 28,663 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $46,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pflug Koory LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 79,729 shares of company stock worth $5,058,748. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.59 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.75 and its 200 day moving average is $56.42.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.