Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 689 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,358 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 689 shares during the period. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $717,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,096.2% in the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,906,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $146,845,000 after buying an additional 2,663,676 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc increased its position in Cisco Systems by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 2,788 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,685,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $240,335,000 after purchasing an additional 49,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 8,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.24, for a total transaction of $386,691.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 180,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,717,209.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $33,439,234.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 8,016 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.24, for a total value of $386,691.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 180,705 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,717,209.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 41,106 shares of company stock worth $1,908,923 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $47.51. 23,921,057 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,878,226. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.95 and a 52-week high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The company’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.47.

Cisco Systems Company 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.