Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases 472 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Beam Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,934 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 472 shares during the quarter. Beam Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 28,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 187,170 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,080,000 after purchasing an additional 21,617 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 332.1% during the 4th quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 81,867 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,847,000 after purchasing an additional 62,919 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 14.6% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC now owns 21,210 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,256,000 after buying an additional 2,706 shares during the period. Finally, Welch & Forbes LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 638,752 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $37,814,000 after buying an additional 6,345 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.41 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $61.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.25. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. 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 stock has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.