17,740 Shares in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Purchased by bLong Financial LLC

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,740 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000. Cisco Systems accounts for about 0.9% of bLong Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $60,979,000 after buying an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% in the third quarter. Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 381 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 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. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.54.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board 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.