Merlin Capital Inc Increases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Merlin Capital Inc boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 13.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,358 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 998 shares during the quarter. Merlin Capital Inc’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in 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. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $179,207,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 7,074.3% during the third quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,271,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $175,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,040 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,749,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $391,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Melius Research reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Melius downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.70 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.08. 5,777,577 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,091,309. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.92 and its 200 day moving average is $49.97. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.