Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Cozad Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Cozad Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 20.7% in Q1, now holding 27,360 shares valued at approximately $1.688 million.
• Several analysts have upgraded Cisco's stock ratings recently, with Morgan Stanley raising the target price from $67.00 to $70.00 and Deutsche Bank from $65.00 to $73.00.
• Cisco Systems reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.96, surpassing analysts' expectations and recording an 11.4% year-over-year revenue increase to $14.15 billion.

Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 20.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,360 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,686 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,688,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake 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 period. Fairway Wealth LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 224.7% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp VA ADV grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 145.3% in the 1st quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV now owns 596 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 688,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 257,162 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. New Street Research reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.35.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $1.30 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $66.79. 2,724,325 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,085,338. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $69.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $264.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.90. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $66.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.66.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. 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.