IFM Investors Pty Ltd Buys 68,921 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 832,201 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 68,921 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up 0.5% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $51,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Souders Financial Advisors grew its position in Cisco Systems by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Souders Financial Advisors now owns 7,053 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $69.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $1.05 on Friday, hitting $69.64. 17,973,495 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,350,689. 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 one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $69.78. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $63.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $275.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 0.90.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total value of $1,027,222.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.