American Alpha Advisors LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• American Alpha Advisors LLC acquired 6,703 shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. for approximately $414,000 in the first quarter of the year.
• Several notable institutional investors, including Vanguard and Goldman Sachs, have recently modified their holdings in Cisco, raising their stakes significantly.
• Cisco's stock has an average target price of $70.55, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts following positive earnings reports.

American Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 6,703 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $414,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,392,000 after acquiring an additional 24,562 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 151.8% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 118,014 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $6,986,000 after purchasing an additional 71,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Petros Family Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $1,703,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares in the company, valued at $16,413,079.79. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

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

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

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.