Plato Investment Management Ltd Raises Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 28.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,744 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 59,756 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,019,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank raised its position in Cisco Systems by 2.6% in the first quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 8,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Holland Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.3% during the first quarter. Holland Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,231 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the first quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.6% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,454 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.89.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $49.80 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $56.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $200.63 billion, a PE ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,085.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,085.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.