Harfst & Associates Inc. Cuts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Harfst & Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 37.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,242 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,756 shares during the quarter. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its position in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second 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. Retirement Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 56.8% during the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.76. 17,679,841 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,181,732. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.17 and a 200 day moving average of $48.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $56.87. The firm has a market cap of $228.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.11, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total value of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. HSBC raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.74.

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.