Baillie Gifford & Co. Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. by 2.0%, selling 21,830 shares, leading to a total of 1,067,032 shares valued at approximately $65.8 million.
• The network provider reported earnings of $0.96 per share for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with year-over-year revenue growth of 11.4%.
• Cisco's recent quarterly dividend was announced at $0.41 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.64 and a yield of 2.39%.

Baillie Gifford & Co. decreased its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,067,032 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 21,830 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $65,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1,144.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $501,140,000 after purchasing an additional 7,468,212 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $413,491,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 187.9% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,478,872 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $442,749,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880,747 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.40 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $68.36. 5,157,626 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,163,514. The company has a market capitalization of $270.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.35.

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.