Kera Capital Partners Inc. Invests $238,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 3,856 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 9.6% during the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 18,555 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,145,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.9% during the first quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. now owns 25,677 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,584,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 568,076 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,056,000 after buying an additional 14,495 shares during the last quarter. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $328,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.07. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $249.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total transaction of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 131,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total value of $265,789.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 38,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,921.53. The trade was a 9.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,616 shares of company stock worth $2,640,095 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.