Wealth Alliance Has $1.27 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Wealth Alliance decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 780 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,383 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.67 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.01. The firm has a market cap of $257.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. 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 yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 69.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

About Cisco Systems

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.