SevenBridge Financial Group LLC Has $6.97 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

SevenBridge Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 111,640 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,315 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.4% of SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1,496.4% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 134,748 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,171,000 after acquiring an additional 126,307 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 46,613 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after buying an additional 1,119 shares during the period. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.7% during the third quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 122,957 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,544,000 after buying an additional 39,139 shares during the period. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,698,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’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 $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, 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 worth $4,275,553 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $61.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $62.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.77. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board 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.