Meritage Portfolio Management Has $3.66 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,737 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,445 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $62.57 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $59.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $249.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $62.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.72.

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.