Meridian Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,563 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 611 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Swedbank AB raised its position in 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 last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,772 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 46,809 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,491,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 68,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,653,000 after purchasing an additional 13,130 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 66,055 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,515,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.26 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $251.67 billion, a PE ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.16.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. 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 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.