Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Has $3.23 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,595 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,296 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,232,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.41 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $61.54 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by 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.