Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by Balboa Wealth Partners

Balboa Wealth Partners raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 25.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,280 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 60,629 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,227,000 after purchasing an additional 10,066 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 60,191 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 23,073 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,228,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.1% in the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 18,310 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $974,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised 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 research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.67 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.63. 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 company has a market cap of $237.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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.