AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Invests $5.05 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 85,363 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,000. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.0% of AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 479,274 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,373,000 after acquiring an additional 65,788 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,902,354 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $112,619,000 after acquiring an additional 18,425 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,021,000. Sava Infond d.o.o. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 72,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,750 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.80 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.36. The company has a market cap of $245.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in 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 generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Cisco Systems

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.