HighMark Wealth Management LLC Sells 684 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

HighMark Wealth Management LLC decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 41.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 953 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 684 shares during the quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $56,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

CSCO stock opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average of $55.64. The firm has a market cap 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. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.