Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Acquires New Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 16,645 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $985,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $61.67 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.73 and a 200 day moving average of $59.51. 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 stock has a market cap of $245.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% 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. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.