Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC Has $408,000 Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,884 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 456 shares during the period. Safeguard Investment Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $408,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Second Line Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $236,000. Sentinus LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Sentinus LLC now owns 5,220 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 115,032 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,175 shares during the last quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $246,000. Finally, SGL Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 4,508 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $58.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.66. The firm has a market cap of $253.10 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value 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. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.