Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Position Boosted by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 161.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,241 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 47,660 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $65.10. The company had a trading volume of 15,146,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,148,308. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $60.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.49.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 69,335 shares of company stock worth $4,441,441. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $68.00.

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.