Premier Fund Managers Ltd Invests $6.69 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Premier Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, purchasing 109,990 shares valued at approximately $6.7 million in the first quarter.
• Cisco reported earnings of $0.96 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing an 11.4% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.41% with a payout ratio of 66.94%.

Premier Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 109,990 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $6,693,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1,144.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $501,140,000 after acquiring an additional 7,468,212 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 187.9% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,478,872 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $442,749,000 after purchasing an additional 4,880,747 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $67.03. The stock had a trading volume of 14,488,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,161,752. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year 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. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors 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 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $154,072.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares in the company, valued at $11,331,498.27. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. CICC Research started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Eight equities 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 MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.35.

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.