Guinness Asset Management LTD Has $262.91 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Guinness Asset Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,441,557 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 221,017 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 4.9% of Guinness Asset Management LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Guinness Asset Management LTD’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $262,912,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth $242,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.7% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,041,220 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $96,984,000 after acquiring an additional 245,780 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 223,121 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,600,000 after purchasing an additional 35,302 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 220,894 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,495,000 after purchasing an additional 47,590 shares during the period. Finally, Holderness Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the second quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 85,215 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,049,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.23 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.57. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $60.95. The firm has a market cap of $239.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.50.

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.