AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC Sells 1,234 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 70,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,234 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.4% of AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. AIMZ Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position 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 valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.81 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.12 and a 200 day moving average of $56.66. The firm has a market cap of $253.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. 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 2.57%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems 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.