Liberty Wealth Management LLC Acquires 858 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 43,646 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,537,633 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $91,028,000 after acquiring an additional 42,928 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,715 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Austin Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 209 shares during the period. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,427 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $972,000 after buying an additional 2,863 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.2 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.67 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.60. The firm has a market cap of $241.36 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research 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 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 a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems 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 owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 $2,979,515.23. This trade 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 sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.