Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Increased by Baker Avenue Asset Management LP

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 21.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,235 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,894 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $864,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 226.9% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after buying an additional 18,339 shares during the period. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.8% in the first quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,886 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $4,390,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.1% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 3,528,916 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $176,128,000 after buying an additional 171,411 shares during the period. Finally, Rogco LP lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the first quarter. Rogco LP now owns 27,492 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,372,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. New Street Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.32.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,794,278.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 22,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $1,115,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 293,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,659,200. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $233.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $59.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $53.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.42.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.99%.

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.