Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Position Decreased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,145,092 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 682,021 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Cisco Systems worth $273,822,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 617.7% during the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.08 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $58.30. The company has a market cap of $231.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.27.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 62.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $368,697.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 165,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,307.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $368,697.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,580 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,307.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at $33,794,278.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.74.

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.