Argyle Capital Management Inc. Sells 12,600 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Argyle Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 69,233 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,600 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.4% of Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Argyle Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Benin Management CORP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 37,543 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lodestone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,587 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.86. 14,658,910 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.56 and a 52-week high of $58.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $48.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $193.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

Cisco Systems 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.