Level Four Advisory Services LLC Increases Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 94,447 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,562 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,591,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $40,000. BBR Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $1,158,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 174,153 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after purchasing an additional 468 shares during the period. Tybourne Capital Management HK Ltd. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $744,000. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,336,000 after buying an additional 19,800 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.6 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.40 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $244.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $62.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid 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 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group increased 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 reissued an “equal weight” 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. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.