Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. lessened its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 11.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 578,045 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 74,270 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 1.2% of Conning Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Conning Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $35,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,553.59. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $1.05 on Friday, reaching $69.64. 17,973,495 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,328,057. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business's 50 day moving average price is $63.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.38. The company has a market capitalization of $275.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.90. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $69.78.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

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.