Machina Capital S.A.S. Buys New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,516 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. JB Capital LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 15.0% during the third quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 154,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,299,000 after buying an additional 20,151 shares during the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 9.6% in the third quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 48,730 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,620,000 after acquiring an additional 4,283 shares during the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 14.2% during the third quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 9,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $404,000. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 17,252 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $927,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $47.28. The company had a trading volume of 13,980,780 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,061,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.70 and a 12 month high of $58.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $48.77 and its 200 day moving average is $49.73.

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 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 business 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 firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

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.