Kovack Advisors Inc. Buys 255 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,189 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Waddell & Associates LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Benin Management CORP raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 37,543 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,018,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lodestone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,587 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.86. 14,658,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.94 and a 200 day moving average of $50.06. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.79 billion, a PE ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

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.