Optimum Investment Advisors Has $1.60 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Optimum Investment Advisors decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up 0.7% of Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Optimum Investment Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,595,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $335,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $105,685,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 295,145 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,473,000 after purchasing an additional 5,420 shares in the last quarter. Umpqua Bank grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 9,132 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the period. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 94.0% in the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,017 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 8,730 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average of $58.11. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on CSCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.