Avitas Wealth Management LLC Purchases 256 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Avitas Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,219 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $1,751,000. Stephens Consulting LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 145,248 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,597,000 after buying an additional 3,904 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 24,222 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,434,000 after buying an additional 2,668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 21,736 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $61.34 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.67. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $62.31. The stock has a market cap of $244.30 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.72.

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.