Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 63,761 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,165,440 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 63,761 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. owned 0.05% of Cisco Systems worth $128,194,000 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. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $33,830,000 after buying an additional 92,179 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.48 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $252.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.32 and a 200-day moving average of $57.06.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.