Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC Increases Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,862 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,871 shares during the quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,656,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Enterprise Financial Services Corp raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Enterprise Financial Services Corp now owns 15,012 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $889,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2,271.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 34,201 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,025,000 after acquiring an additional 32,759 shares in the last quarter. Argentarii LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $268,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,999,000. Finally, United Community Bank raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. United Community Bank now owns 54,409 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,365 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $63.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $61.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.39. 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 firm has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Company 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.