Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Commonwealth Equity Services LLC has increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.4%, now holding over 2 million shares worth approximately $131 million.
• Cisco reported a quarterly earnings of $0.96 per share, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $14.15 billion, up 11.4% year-over-year.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41, providing an annual yield of 2.4% with a payout ratio of 66.94%.

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,128,016 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 69,598 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Cisco Systems worth $131,320,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,144.2% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $501,140,000 after purchasing an additional 7,468,212 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $413,491,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $414,593,000 after purchasing an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 187.9% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,478,872 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $442,749,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880,747 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,553.59. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Citigroup increased 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of CSCO traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,849,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,071,521. The stock has a market cap of $268.19 billion, a PE ratio of 27.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $69.78. The company's 50 day moving average is $66.98 and its 200 day moving average is $62.81.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.