Cornerstone Capital Inc. Sells 18,722 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cornerstone Capital Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 346,161 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 18,722 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.9% of Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Cornerstone Capital Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,753,165 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $179,207,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,074.3% during the third quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,271,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $175,883,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.7% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,749,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $391,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909,597 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $47.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $193.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.56 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $48.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.04.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.