Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 67,689 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,999 shares during the quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded down $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $47.89. 6,258,622 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,466,828. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.18 and a 200-day moving average of $50.32. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The firm has a market cap of $193.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

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.