Apriem Advisors Acquires 359 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Apriem Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 14,735 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. Apriem Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth 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 during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.08 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $254.93 billion, a PE ratio of 27.98, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.00 and a 200-day moving average of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.