Sigma Planning Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,839 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,255 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Redmond Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.4% during the 4th quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 59,877 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,545,000 after buying an additional 10,976 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 8,898 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 8,100 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 2,014 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,388 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 202,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $11,988,000 after purchasing an additional 18,993 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.98 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.30. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. 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. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 69.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seven equities research 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 data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

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.