Bleakley Financial Group LLC Acquires 5,858 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 155,645 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,858 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.1% during the first quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC now owns 15,925 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $759,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the first quarter. Atwood & Palmer Inc. now owns 517,457 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,050,000 after acquiring an additional 5,919 shares during the last quarter. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the first quarter valued at $210,000. Finally, Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 4.1% during the first quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 230,567 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,053,000 after acquiring an additional 8,995 shares during the last quarter. 72.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. 51job reiterated an “initiates” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 21st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.23.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.73, for a total transaction of $152,291.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 175,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,895,708.42. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Maria Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total value of $551,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 399,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,030,063.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.73, for a total value of $152,291.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 175,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,895,708.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 64,820 shares of company stock valued at $3,459,946. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.15. 3,161,065 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,510,938. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 1.27. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.60 and a 52-week high of $58.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.75. The company has a market cap of $232.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.97.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 16th. The network equipment provider reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.08. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.42% and a net margin of 22.13%. The company had revenue of $15.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.58 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 50.81%.

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 that are standalone, controller appliance-based, switch-converged, and Meraki cloud-managed offerings; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.