Wealth Alliance Sells 780 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Wealth Alliance reduced its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & 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 reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sunpointe LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 9,076 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 3,614 shares in the last quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 37,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,224,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 269,517 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $15,955,000 after acquiring an additional 10,088 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 21,399 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,267,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 366,454 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $21,694,000 after acquiring an additional 2,254 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

CSCO stock opened at $64.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.01. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $257.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.