Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Raises Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 78.2%, owning 587,576 shares valued at approximately $36.26 million after purchasing additional shares in the first quarter.
• Cisco recently reported earnings of $0.99 per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue rising 7.6% year-over-year to $14.67 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41, leading to an annualized dividend yield of 2.3%, which will be paid to shareholders on October 22nd.

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 78.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 587,576 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 257,832 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $36,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 892,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $55,049,000 after buying an additional 6,501 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 10.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 28.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,037,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $249,180,000 after purchasing an additional 904,548 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 59,680 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,839 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. William Blair upgraded Cisco Systems to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.53.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $57,778.73. Following the transaction, the insider owned 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $3.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.20. The stock had a trading volume of 40,854,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,656,640. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $47.85 and a one year high of $72.55. The company has a market capitalization of $262.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $67.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 62.60%.

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.