Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires New Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Tandem Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,441 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 67,514 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,997,000 after acquiring an additional 2,253 shares during the last quarter. Advyzon Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $549,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 2,592,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $153,452,000 after purchasing an additional 145,835 shares during the last quarter. Sunpointe LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Sunpointe LLC now owns 9,076 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $537,000 after purchasing an additional 3,614 shares during the period. Finally, LMG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. LMG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 37,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,224,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.67 on Friday. 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 50-day moving average price of $60.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.