Rheos Capital Works Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Rheos Capital Works Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 27.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 325,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 120,000 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 1.6% of Rheos Capital Works Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Rheos Capital Works Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $20,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 402,207 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $24,820,000 after purchasing an additional 6,647 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.8% during the first quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 45,369 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,800,000 after buying an additional 5,164 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.9% in the first quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 15,682 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 3,792 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 36.4% in the first quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,328 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 4,090 shares during the period. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 283,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $17,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,848 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $66.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $261.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.38. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.