Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,629 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,066 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,340,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,598 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,261,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530,468 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in 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 period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $840,538,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 26.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $691,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,357 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,794,278.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. 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. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $236.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a P/E/G ratio of 4.86 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 company has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays cut their price target on Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.32.

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.