Madison Wealth Partners Inc Trims Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Madison Wealth Partners Inc cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 18.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,646 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,250 shares during the period. Madison Wealth Partners Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $240.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.62. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost 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 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.