Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 60,629 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,066 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,340,764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,598 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,261,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,530,468 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the first quarter worth about $840,538,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 26.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,678,000 after buying an additional 2,906,357 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. HSBC upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.32.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $59.18 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $236.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.99%.

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.