Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,918 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in Cisco Systems by 6.4% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 820,712 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $43,678,000 after acquiring an additional 49,100 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 82,544 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,393,000 after acquiring an additional 13,406 shares during the period. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 39,516 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,103,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 51,885 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,827 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $62.72.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $1.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.49. 9,619,252 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,356,766. The firm has a market cap of $248.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.77. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $62.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 68.67%.

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.