Essential Planning LLC. Invests $3.75 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Essential Planning LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 65,721 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,750,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.46 on Thursday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $240.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.74 and a 200 day moving average of $57.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change 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 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.