AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Takes $5.05 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 85,363 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,000. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.0% of AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 479,274 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,373,000 after purchasing an additional 65,788 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,902,354 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $112,619,000 after buying an additional 18,425 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $1,021,000. Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $291,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in Cisco Systems by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 72,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,273,000 after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $61.80 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $245.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.36. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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.