Van ECK Associates Corp Has $65.11 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 951,673 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,738 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $65,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc increased its position in Cisco Systems by 531.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 96.2% during the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 115.7% during the third quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 468 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Argus upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. HSBC raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.55.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $77.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $77.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $306.91 billion, a PE ratio of 27.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.11 and a 1 year high of $88.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.54%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $1,039,789.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,753,521.90. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 11,248 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $854,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 262,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,970,976. This trade represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,677 shares of company stock valued at $5,811,211. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.