Northstar Advisory Group LLC Takes $279,000 Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northstar Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,527 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.2%

CSCO stock opened at $66.06 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.38. 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 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $261.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.