Choate Investment Advisors Purchases 5,901 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 123,590 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,901 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.50 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $240.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.