Equity Investment Corp Raises Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Equity Investment Corp raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,294,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,574 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $68,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $840,538,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,254,739,000 after purchasing an additional 4,843,146 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. Natixis grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 438.4% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 4,924,988 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $245,806,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 26.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,357 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,258,974.53. The trade was a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. This trade represents a 0.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. HSBC upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.94.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $57.46 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $229.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $59.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

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.