Connors Investor Services Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Connors Investor Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 22.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,813 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,610 shares during the period. Connors Investor Services Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $440,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1,096.2% during the fourth quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,906,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $146,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663,676 shares in the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 2,788 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $28,685,000. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,734,000 after buying an additional 1,097 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 270,841 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $13,683,000 after buying an additional 1,520 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total value of $1,213,859.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,439,234.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.42, for a total value of $34,610.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,352,210.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $1,213,859.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 725,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,439,234.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 41,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,923 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.47.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.5 %

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.72 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $47.32. 18,289,179 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,574,270. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $46.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $190.64 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.95 and a one year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.18. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.87%.

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.