Avalon Capital Management Sells 239 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Avalon Capital Management lessened its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 160,793 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 239 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 3.1% of Avalon Capital Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Avalon Capital Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 79,729 shares of company stock worth $5,058,748 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.2 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.24 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $251.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.42.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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 research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.