Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.

Key Points

• Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 33%, holding 21,904 shares valued at approximately $1.35 million after selling 10,770 shares in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Goldman Sachs and Pacer Advisors, significantly increased their positions in Cisco, contributing to over 73% ownership of the stock by institutional investors.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Cisco Systems, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $70.55, following better-than-expected earnings in the most recent quarter.

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. reduced its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 33.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,904 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 10,770 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 224.7% in the 1st quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $57,778.73. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. This trade represents a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total value of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $1.69 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.21. 23,097,640 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $69.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $274.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a PEG ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.89.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid 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 was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. CICC Research began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 target price for the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective 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. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI reiterated an "in-line" rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.55.

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.