SageGuard Financial Group LLC Invests $477,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

SageGuard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 6,192 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $477,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Kertz & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $1,934,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 350,699 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,014,000 after acquiring an additional 26,950 shares during the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $1,160,000. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 7,491 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after acquiring an additional 2,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Financial Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $208,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 3,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total value of $249,745.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 188,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,040,000.62. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 11,248 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $854,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 262,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,970,976. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $87.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.83 and a 1 year high of $88.35. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $79.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.92. The stock has a market cap of $346.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.78, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.4 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 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 58.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Argus raised shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. CICC Research boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.81.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.