ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Sells 25,045 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 162,850 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 25,045 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.2% of ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest position. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 23,194 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 2,788 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 64,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,685,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $240,335,000 after acquiring an additional 49,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Melius downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last 90 days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.12. The company had a trading volume of 17,935,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,219,910. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $190.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

Cisco Systems Company 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.