Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 10,516 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase 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 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 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.