Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 132.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,043 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 80,414 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,214,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $988,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,469 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,107,930,000 after acquiring an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in Cisco Systems by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 55,500 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,286,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Wealth Management LLC MS now owns 4,857 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 177.4% during the fourth quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 25,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,491,000 after buying an additional 16,112 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $59.55. The company had a trading volume of 14,078,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,243,750. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.38. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $236.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.00, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.