Keystone Financial Group Inc. Buys New Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Keystone Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,287 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during 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. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $62.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $248.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.59 and a 200 day moving average of $54.82. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $62.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at $12,596,059. This trade represents a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.72.

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.