Main Street Research LLC Has $651,000 Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Main Street Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,998 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 929 shares during the period. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.94 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan 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 plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems 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.