Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO Shares Sold by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Key Points

• Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. by 2.3% in the first quarter, now owning 567,536 shares valued at approximately $35 million.
• Multiple hedge funds, including Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS and Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC, increased their stakes in Cisco during the same period, indicating a strong institutional interest.
• Cisco recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41, with the payout set for October 22, reflecting a 2.5% dividend yield and a payout ratio of about 66.94%.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 567,536 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 13,162 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $35,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legacy Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $302,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the period. Capital Advantage Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 17,361 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co grew its position in Cisco Systems by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 3,433 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Rossmore Private Capital grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 69,220 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in Cisco Systems by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 4,803 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.1%

CSCO traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $66.95. 20,891,644 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,893,252. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $67.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.38. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.85 and a 52-week high of $72.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.12 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be 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 is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 62.60%.

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.