FourThought Financial Partners LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 160,955 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,069,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790,717 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after buying an additional 1,847,682 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,536,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,802,909,000 after buying an additional 1,181,327 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $947,262,000 after buying an additional 3,753,165 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.7% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,376,937 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $611,624,000 after acquiring an additional 405,699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $47.12. 17,935,302 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,219,910. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $190.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.56 and a 1-year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

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.