Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,441 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,441 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $376,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Cassia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the third quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the third quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, hitting $48.32. The company had a trading volume of 20,962,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,502,734. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.07 and a 200 day moving average of $50.25. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 48.63%.

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.