Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stake Lowered by RWC Asset Management LLP

RWC Asset Management LLP reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,659,994 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 95,393 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 5.1% of RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. RWC Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $83,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Benin Management CORP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 37,543 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,018,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Lodestone Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,587 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,967,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CSCO. Melius cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $47.86. The stock had a trading volume of 14,658,910 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,851,638. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.94 and its 200-day moving average is $50.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $193.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.56 and a 1-year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.