Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 61,697 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 68.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 152,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 61,697 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 0.8% of Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 586.8% in the fourth quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 27,906 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,652,000 after acquiring an additional 23,843 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $282,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 520,193 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,060,000 after purchasing an additional 54,879 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 63,921 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,784,000 after purchasing an additional 12,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, bLong Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,050,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $60.07 and a 200-day moving average of $55.54. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

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.