Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,102 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 645 shares during the quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during 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. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.2 %

CSCO stock opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.31. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $63.25.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.