Pollock Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Pollock Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,471 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $502,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.4 %

CSCO stock opened at $60.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $240.69 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.75.

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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 2.71%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.