WT Wealth Management Acquires 3,270 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

WT Wealth Management raised its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 59.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 8,760 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,270 shares during the period. WT Wealth Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake 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 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.08 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally 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. Investors 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 2.56%. 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 is currently 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.