BTS Asset Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

BTS Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,486 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $325,000. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.3% of BTS Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $60.23. 23,800,968 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $58.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.57. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $60.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Company 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.