Millstone Evans Group LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,516 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $623,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth about $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $60.30 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.95 and a 200-day moving average of $58.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.