ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Makes New $32.87 Million Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. has acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, purchasing 532,612 shares valued at approximately $32.87 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their holdings in Cisco Systems, with notable increases of 28.9% by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC and 44.6% by Investment Management Corp of Ontario.
• Cisco reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.96, surpassing expectations, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, amounting to an annualized yield of 2.4%.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 532,612 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $32,866,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 388,949,854 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $24,002,095,000 after buying an additional 1,865,648 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,796,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 46,973,293 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,898,722,000 after acquiring an additional 12,775,066 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,159,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,741,597,000 after purchasing an additional 681,555 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 28th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $69.21. The company had a trading volume of 23,097,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. The firm has a market cap of $274.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $69.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 257,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the firm'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 sale, the executive vice president owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.