Claris Advisors LLC MO Buys 4,748 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Claris Advisors LLC MO grew its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1,388.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,090 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,748 shares during the quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $62.06 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign 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. Stockholders 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 represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.