Lynx Investment Advisory Grows Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Lynx Investment Advisory lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,593 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.30 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.17.

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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” 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 research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.