WASHINGTON TRUST Co Sells 6,555 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 229,050 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 6,555 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $13,560,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,979,000 after purchasing an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.0% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 42,910 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after purchasing an additional 5,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Good Life Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 141.6% during the third quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 39,040 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,078,000 after buying an additional 22,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Citigroup increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

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.