Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Position Increased by Simplicity Wealth LLC

Simplicity Wealth LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 405.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,029 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,303 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,593,000 after buying an additional 6,625,045 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $65.15 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $59.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.46. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $257.99 billion, a PE ratio of 28.45, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. UBS Group boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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.

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.