NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Boosts Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,572 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 8,703 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,971,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position 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 worth $414,593,000 after purchasing an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $265,789.35. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,419,921.53. The trade was a 9.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 72,931 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,930 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO traded down $1.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.09. 14,630,776 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,142,195. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.53. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $253.80 billion, a PE ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88.

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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems 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.