Sigma Planning Corp Sells 2,255 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Sigma Planning Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,839 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,255 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Redmond Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Redmond Asset Management LLC now owns 59,877 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,545,000 after purchasing an additional 10,976 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 8,898 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 33.1% in the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 8,100 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 2,014 shares in the last quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,388 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $733,000 after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bell Bank increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 202,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,988,000 after acquiring an additional 18,993 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven 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, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $63.98 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.65 and its 200 day moving average is $56.30. The company has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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 research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.