Heritage Wealth Advisors Lowers Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Heritage Wealth Advisors lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,265 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 242 shares during the period. Heritage Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $16,798,000. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.8% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $341,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,503,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 87.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC now owns 170,379 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,068,000 after acquiring an additional 3,687 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $242.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

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.