DCF Advisers LLC Purchases 22,500 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• DCF Advisers LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 52.9% during the 1st quarter, now holding 65,000 shares valued at approximately $4 million.
• Several large investors, including FMR LLC and Pacer Advisors Inc., significantly increased their holdings in Cisco Systems, indicating strong institutional interest.
• Cisco's stock has a current rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus target price of $70.35 after a series of positive earnings reports and analyst upgrades.

DCF Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 52.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 22,500 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 1.9% of DCF Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. DCF Advisers LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,011,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 224.7% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 688,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.61 on Tuesday, hitting $67.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,418,399 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,067,389. 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 market capitalization of $268.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.98 and a 200-day moving average of $62.81. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders 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 was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.