Longbow Finance SA Sells 28,080 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Longbow Finance SA reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 17.7% in Q1, selling 28,080 shares, and currently holds 130,763 shares valued at approximately $8.07 million.
• Cisco's recent quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, with an EPS of $0.96 compared to the predicted $0.92, and revenue of $14.15 billion, marking an 11.4% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.40%.

Longbow Finance SA decreased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 17.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 130,763 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 28,080 shares during the quarter. Longbow Finance SA's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,392,000 after acquiring an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $650,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,000. Finally, Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 616.8% during the 4th quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 30,256 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,791,000 after acquiring an additional 26,035 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.54 on Tuesday, hitting $68.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,011,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,208,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $271.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's 50-day moving average is $66.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.52. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.35.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $48,821.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the company'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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.