Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO Shares Bought by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 17.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 165,887 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,844 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Pandora Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 224.7% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $66.95 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $68.00 and its 200-day moving average is $63.42. The stock has a market cap of $265.12 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.85 and a twelve month high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.53.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total value of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 131,676 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.