Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Aire Advisors LLC

Aire Advisors LLC lessened its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,579 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 584 shares during the quarter. Aire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $389,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective 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, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.1 %

CSCO opened at $60.97 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $62.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.25. The firm has a market cap of $242.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s 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. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.