Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Has $2.35 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,675 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,671 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.6 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $255.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in 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 typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

About Cisco Systems

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.