Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. Sells 2,729 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Laffer Tengler Investments Inc. trimmed its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 38.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,295 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,729 shares during the period. Laffer Tengler Investments Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $251.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.