Zhang Financial LLC Grows Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Zhang Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 24.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 64,110 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,663 shares during the period. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its stake 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 valued at $11,454,000 after purchasing an additional 59,680 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,296 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.8% during the 4th quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 20,483 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 6,811 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.5%

CSCO stock opened at $64.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $254.19 billion, a PE ratio of 28.03, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.04 and its 200 day moving average is $60.49.

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

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $265,789.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,103 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,921.53. This represents a 9.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 68,573 shares of company stock valued at $4,392,619 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

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.