Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 113,119 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC has significantly increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 302.4% to a total of $9.29 million, owning 150,520 shares after purchasing an additional 113,119 shares.
• Cisco reported a Q2 EPS of $0.96, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.92, with quarterly revenue of $14.15 billion, marking an increase of 11.4% from the previous year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, yielding 2.4%, and has a dividend payout ratio of 66.94%.

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 302.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 150,520 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 113,119 shares during the quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 224.7% during 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, Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $57,778.73. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI restated an "in-line" rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $69.21. 23,097,640 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $67.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.89. The company has a market cap of $274.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The company's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis 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.