Ascent Wealth Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,217 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $63.98 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.65 and a 200-day moving average of $56.22. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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.