SNS Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

SNS Financial Group LLC decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,138 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,911 shares during the period. SNS Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.4 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.