Empower Advisory Group LLC Sells 8,870 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Empower Advisory Group LLC reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 16.2%, selling 8,870 shares and now owning 45,777 shares worth approximately $2.83 million.
• Cisco Systems reported a strong quarterly earnings, with an EPS of $0.96, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.92, and a revenue of $14.15 billion, a year-over-year increase of 11.4%.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, representing a yield of 2.4%, with a payout ratio of 66.94%.

Empower Advisory Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,777 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 8,870 shares during the quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings 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, Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp started coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Eight research 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 data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,331,498.27. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.5%

CSCO stock traded up $1.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 23,097,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. 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 twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $69.78. The company's fifty day moving average price is $67.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business 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 business earned $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. 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.