Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Decreases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 395,358 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 8,834 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $3,750,000. Liberty Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,646 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,584,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,537,633 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $91,028,000 after purchasing an additional 42,928 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,715 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $398,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Austin Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a PEG 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Analysts expect 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 approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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 paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.