Lafayette Investments Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,387 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Lafayette Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,387 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.1 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $57.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.08. 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 twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $228.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Company 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.