Northstar Financial Companies Inc. Buys Shares of 11,800 Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northstar Financial Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,800 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $699,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.81. 25,829,006 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,244,721. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $59.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $248.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total transaction of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 131,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 41,616 shares of company stock worth $2,640,095. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three 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 price target of $68.00.

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.