Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,618 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 183,577 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,618 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 2.6% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $62.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $59.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.98. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $63.25. The stock has a market cap of $248.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius raised 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 research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.72.

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.