Nuveen LLC Makes New $750.50 Million Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, purchasing 12,067,643 shares valued at approximately $750.5 million, representing around 0.30% of the company's stock.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. significantly increased its stake in Cisco by 37.4%, bringing its total holdings to nearly 47 million shares valued at around $2.9 billion.
• Cisco reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.96 per share for the last quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate by $0.04 and indicating an 11.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,067,643 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $750,495,000. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.30% of Cisco Systems at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 224.7% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $1.89 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.79. 31,389,613 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,540,942. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $284.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $72.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 257,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. The trade was a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.