Financial Security Advisor Inc. Sells 1,055 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,155 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,055 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises about 1.1% of Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth 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 during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $51,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.81 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company’s 50 day moving average is $61.12 and its 200 day moving average is $56.66. 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 company has a market cap of $253.85 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.