Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 61,697 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 68.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 152,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 61,697 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 0.8% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 586.8% during the fourth quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 27,906 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after purchasing an additional 23,843 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $282,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 520,193 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,060,000 after buying an additional 54,879 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 63,921 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,784,000 after acquiring an additional 12,889 shares during the period. Finally, bLong Financial LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,050,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.54. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.