Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. Acquires 26,035 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 616.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 26,035 shares during the quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avestar Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 19,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Cadence Bank increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.4% during the third quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 197,604 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,516,000 after acquiring an additional 828 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,801 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 108.7% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 3,582,670 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $190,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,730 shares during the period. Finally, CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 28.9% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 91,172 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,458 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $61.80 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.36. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. 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 $245.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.