BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $242.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 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.