Primecap Management Co. CA Cuts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Primecap Management Co. CA has reduced its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.3%, bringing its total ownership to approximately 5.5 million shares, valued at about $340.9 million.
• Several institutions have adjusted their positions in Cisco, with hedge funds collectively owning 73.33% of the company's stock.
• Wall Street analysts are optimistic about Cisco's prospects, with multiple firms upgrading the stock and increasing their price targets, resulting in an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $70.55.

Primecap Management Co. CA decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 0.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,524,530 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 16,500 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $340,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 224.7% during the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded up $1.69 on Wednesday, reaching $69.21. The company had a trading volume of 23,097,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 255,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.