Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 8,834 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 16,235 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 88.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 5,435 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after purchasing an additional 2,556 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 22,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after buying an additional 1,123 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.2 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $61.72 and its 200-day moving average is $57.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors 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 a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.