Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 1,849 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,932 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,849 shares during the quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pflug Koory LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Maple Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.12 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $243.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.89 and a 200-day moving average of $57.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.