Rathbones Group PLC Sells 4,937 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Rathbones Group PLC has decreased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7%, owning 287,094 shares valued at approximately $17.72 million after selling 4,937 shares in the first quarter.
• Analysts show optimism for Cisco with eight recommending holds, sixteen issuing buy ratings, and two giving a strong buy rating, reflecting a consensus average target price of $70.55.
• Cisco's recent earnings report exceeded expectations, posting an EPS of $0.96, surpassing the consensus estimate by $0.04, and showing a 11.4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Rathbones Group PLC lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 1.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 287,094 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 4,937 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,717,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake 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 increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $7,448,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,746 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 4,406 shares during the period. Finally, Lafayette Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $73.45.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $3.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.20. 40,578,969 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,601,148. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.85 and a 52-week high of $72.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.98 and a 200-day moving average of $63.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $262.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.24% and a net margin of 18.45%. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The company's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519. Corporate 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.