Boston Financial Mangement LLC Raises Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,514 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,997,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.84 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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 issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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.