iA Global Asset Management Inc. Purchases 28,072 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems by 4.1%, holding a total of 719,827 shares valued at approximately $44.42 million.
• Brokerages have upgraded their price targets for Cisco, with Rosenblatt Securities raising it from $63 to $74, and multiple analysts giving the stock a "buy" or "overweight" rating.
• Cisco reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.96, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $14.15 billion, reflecting an 11.4% year-over-year increase.

iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 719,827 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 28,072 shares during the quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $44,421,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the first quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 892,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $55,049,000 after acquiring an additional 6,501 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.8% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 28.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,037,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $249,180,000 after acquiring an additional 904,548 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 44.6% in the fourth quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 193,478 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $11,454,000 after acquiring an additional 59,680 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 111,510 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $6,882,000 after buying an additional 2,839 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $1.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $69.21. 23,097,640 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $69.78. 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 cap of $274.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted 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 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 analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 688,409 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. KeyCorp started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. CICC Research assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price target for the company. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.55.

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.