iA Global Asset Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 29.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 461,932 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 191,172 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $24,584,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $59.89 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $60.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $238.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 351,860 shares of company stock valued at $20,231,558. Corporate insiders own 0.01% 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.