Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Buys 1,372 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,372 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pflug Koory LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Aviso Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $64.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their price target 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. 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 upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

About Cisco Systems

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.