Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Makes New $985,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,645 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $985,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $61.67 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.51. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $245.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.93, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

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%. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems 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.