Bridgewater Associates LP Acquires 244,253 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bridgewater Associates LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,921,718 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 244,253 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $97,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,672,445,000 after purchasing an additional 6,345,954 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,069,815,000 after buying an additional 1,790,717 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,528,939,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,536,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,802,909,000 after buying an additional 1,181,327 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $45.85. 13,400,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,536,006. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.89. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $45.27 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $47.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.98.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.18. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 53.87%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 43,224 shares of company stock valued at $2,030,547 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.47.

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.