Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Grows Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1,189.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,028,714 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 948,914 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $60,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,003,000 after buying an additional 7,338 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 112,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,636,000 after buying an additional 5,123 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $1,670,000. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,539,557 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $91,142,000 after buying an additional 11,506 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.92 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $254.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

About Cisco Systems

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.