AIA Group Ltd Has $3.76 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 62.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 60,907 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,459 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,759,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 24,562 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Crux Wealth Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $204,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,287,000. Finally, Seeds Investor LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Seeds Investor LLC now owns 7,853 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.7%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $71.79 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $72.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $284.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was 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 owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 177,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. CICC Research started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.55.

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.