Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Buckhead Capital Management LLC

Buckhead Capital Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 7,246 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 579 shares during the quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $429,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $247,000. Avestar Capital LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 22,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 2,272 shares during the last quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 3,994 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 4,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 11,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,722 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $63.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.89 and a 200-day moving average of $55.36. The company has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

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

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.