Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Simon Quick Advisors LLC

Simon Quick Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 36.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 29,584 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 7,841 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 6,447 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $398,000 after buying an additional 787 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 24.6% during the 1st quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 64,110 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,956,000 after purchasing an additional 12,663 shares during the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 7,316 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Transform Wealth LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 363.7% during the 1st quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 41,365 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,553,000 after purchasing an additional 32,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 75,985 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4%

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $65.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,146,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,148,308. The firm has a market capitalization of $257.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock's fifty day moving average is $60.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.49.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 69,335 shares of company stock worth $4,441,441 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.