Montag A & Associates Inc. Sells 9,772 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Montag A & Associates Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 119,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 9,772 shares during the quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,979,000 after purchasing an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $226,000. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.