Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in Q1, now owning approximately 388.9 million shares, which is about 9.78% of the company's total stock value.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Pacer Advisors Inc. also significantly raised their stakes in Cisco, with Goldman Sachs boosting its position by 37.4%.
• Cisco reported earnings of $0.96 per share for the latest quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue climbing to $14.15 billion, up 11.4% from the previous year.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 388,949,854 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,865,648 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 0.4% of Vanguard Group Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.78% of Cisco Systems worth $24,002,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.7% during the first quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 892,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $55,049,000 after acquiring an additional 6,501 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.8% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 28.9% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,037,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $249,180,000 after purchasing an additional 904,548 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 193,478 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $11,454,000 after purchasing an additional 59,680 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 111,510 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,839 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total transaction of $952,950.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 131,676 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $1.69 on Wednesday, hitting $69.21. 23,097,640 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,347,027. The company's 50-day moving average price is $67.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $274.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. Citigroup increased 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.55.

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.