IFP Advisors Inc Has $6.43 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 63.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 108,671 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,248 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $6,433,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.98 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $254.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.30.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, 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 authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 69.87%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.