Private Advisor Group LLC Has $21.69 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 366,454 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,254 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $21,694,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth 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 during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its position in Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.84 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. 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 dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.