Equity Investment Corp Increases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,128,571 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,006 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $56,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nelson Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 120,110 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,213 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 278,195 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,885,000 after acquiring an additional 20,068 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,002,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 524,666 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $26,186,000 after acquiring an additional 105,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,378 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.89, for a total transaction of $155,016.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,953 shares in the company, valued at $2,430,013.17. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 8,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.24, for a total value of $386,691.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 180,705 shares in the company, valued at $8,717,209.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,378 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.89, for a total transaction of $155,016.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 52,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,430,013.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 41,106 shares of company stock worth $1,908,923. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $47.38. 20,936,110 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,369,060. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.58. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.95 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.18. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 21.88% and a return on equity of 30.82%. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

About Cisco Systems

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.