Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Guardian Investment Management

Guardian Investment Management trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,845 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,530 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.9% of Guardian Investment Management’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Quarry LP increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.23 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.95.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.