Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires 714 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,161 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $720,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Pflug Koory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Pathway Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,791 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,591 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.98 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.15. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the 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 approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

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.