Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Invests $445,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 8,817 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hibernia Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, VitalStone Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. 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 target price on the stock. Finally, Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded up $0.14 during trading on Thursday, hitting $49.91. The stock had a trading volume of 17,078,676 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,915,748. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.42%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.