Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. has acquired a new stake of 27,893 shares in Cisco Systems, Inc., valued at approximately $1,721,000, according to their recent SEC filing.
• A number of hedge funds, including Northern Trust Corp and UBS AM, have increased their holdings in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter, with hedge funds owning 73.33% of the stock.
• Analysts have issued positive ratings for Cisco, with the average target price set at $70.35 and upgrades indicating an overall rating of "Moderate Buy".

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 27,893 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,721,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,796,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,159,099,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,741,597,000 after acquiring an additional 681,555 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,161,261 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,015,948,000 after acquiring an additional 1,943,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 15,632,643 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $925,452,000 after acquiring an additional 301,684 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.35.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,413,079.79. This represents a 0.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.1%

CSCO opened at $68.49 on Tuesday. 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. The company has a market capitalization of $271.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.91. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $66.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.81.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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