Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 424,830 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,404 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $22,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,340,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,598 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the 2nd 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 buying an additional 1,530,468 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after buying an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at $840,538,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in 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 valued at $691,678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,906,357 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $416,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,821,929.52. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $57.79 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.64. The stock has a market cap of $230.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The business 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 25.62% and a net margin of 17.73%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company 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 2.77%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

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.