Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 150,433 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,928,712 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 150,433 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 1.2% of Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $198,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $47.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $48.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.06.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their price target 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. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.02% 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.