Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. significantly increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1,144.2%, now owning over 8 million shares valued at $501 million, making it the 16th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Several hedge funds, including Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors and Legacy Financial Group, also raised their holdings in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter.
• Cisco Systems recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, equating to an annualized dividend yield of 2.40%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 1,144.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 7,468,212 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.2% of Pacer Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.20% of Cisco Systems worth $501,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.48 on Tuesday, hitting $68.40. 5,436,037 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,206,670. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $66.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.52. The company has a market capitalization of $270.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.90.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,331,498.27. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. This 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 valued at $6,271,054 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. KeyCorp began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.