City Center Advisors LLC Purchases New Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

City Center Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,635 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $66.06 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.38. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.