Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 187,170 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,617 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings 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 worth $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. M&G PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.2% in the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 951,247 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $50,416,000 after acquiring an additional 47,424 shares during the period. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $486,000. Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.9% in the third quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 42,129 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,242,000 after acquiring an additional 3,791 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the third quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 129,217 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,877,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.54 and a 200-day moving average of $57.25. The firm has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.