CCM Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 13,554 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

CCM Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 326,303 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,554 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 2.1% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $19,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 85,663 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,071,000 after purchasing an additional 2,290 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,604,217 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $154,170,000 after buying an additional 8,158 shares in the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC now owns 20,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 41,328 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,447,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, InvesTrust bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $6,140,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.61. The company had a trading volume of 4,648,728 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,864,394. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.02. The stock has a market cap of $233.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 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 $60.23.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % 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, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $3,345,228.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.28.

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.