Appleton Partners Inc. MA Buys 6,738 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 53.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,436 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,738 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,937 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% 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, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 309,543 shares in the company, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $66.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.65.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Cisco Systems 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.