Evoke Wealth LLC Raises Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 35,377 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,173 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 81,306 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,781,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 764,598 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $45,264,000 after acquiring an additional 15,746 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,623,066 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $214,377,000 after acquiring an additional 441,128 shares during the period. Custos Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $217,000. Finally, Taylor Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $211,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research 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.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.6 %

CSCO opened at $60.89 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.24 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. 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 (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’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 value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.