Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Trimmed by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.9%, owning about 78.2 million shares valued at nearly $4.82 billion, making Cisco its 20th largest holding.
• Analysts have given Cisco Systems a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $70.55, indicating positive outlook from multiple investment firms.
• Cisco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, reflecting a 2.3% yield and showcasing the company's ongoing commitment to returning capital to shareholders.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,182,843 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 2,336,026 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises about 0.9% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.97% of Cisco Systems worth $4,823,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 224.7% during the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "in-line" rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $57,778.73. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares in the company, valued at $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total value of $1,027,222.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $1.89 during trading on Friday, hitting $71.79. 31,389,613 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,692,797. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $72.02. The stock's fifty day moving average is $67.31 and its 200 day moving average is $62.96. The stock has a market cap of $284.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's 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.