Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. Reduces Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,295 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,729 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.8% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,772 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 46,809 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 68,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,653,000 after buying an additional 13,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 66,055 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,515,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.16. The company has a market cap of $251.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost 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 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

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.