Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,828 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,828 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Palisade Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC now owns 383,597 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,379,000 after buying an additional 9,989 shares in the last quarter. Centric Wealth Management lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Centric Wealth Management now owns 38,514 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 3,119 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 5,419 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,672,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,345,954 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Financial Advisors Inc raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 22,448 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after buying an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $48.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 15,014,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,021,080. The firm has a market capitalization of $194.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.70 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The company has a 50 day moving average of $48.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.69.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during 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%. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.