Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. by 37.4% in the first quarter, now holding approximately 46.97 million shares valued at about $2.90 billion.
• Wall Street analysts have generally rated Cisco with an average target price of $70.55, indicating a positive outlook, with recent upgrades from various firms increasing their price targets for the stock.
• Cisco's latest earnings report showed a quarterly revenue of $14.15 billion and earnings per share of $0.96, surpassing analysts' estimates and reflecting an 11.4% increase compared to the same period last year.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 37.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,973,293 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,775,066 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.18% of Cisco Systems worth $2,898,722,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO traded up $1.69 on Wednesday, reaching $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. 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. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $67.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.89. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 36,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems 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.