Heritage Trust Co Purchases Shares of 114,873 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 114,873 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,800,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.6% in the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,930 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Resource Group lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 97,718 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $798,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 4.5% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,097,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $57.32. 4,906,792 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,038,116. The stock's 50-day moving average is $61.19 and its 200-day moving average is $59.08. The stock has a market cap of $228.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.74.

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.