Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Holdings Increased by Avestar Capital LLC

Avestar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,272 shares during the quarter. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $62.53 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $63.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. 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 yield of 2.62%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

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

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.