QRG Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 857,001 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 66,784 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.5% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $52,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 193,478 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,454,000 after purchasing an additional 59,680 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,296 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, AlTi Global Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.8% in the 4th quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 20,483 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 6,811 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.6%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.09 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.58.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total value of $612,330.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,931 shares of company stock worth $4,671,930 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems 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.