Prentice Wealth Management LLC Has $733,000 Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Prentice Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,388 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 516 shares during the quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.15. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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.