Range Financial Group LLC Buys 3,792 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Range Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 31.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 15,682 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,792 shares during the quarter. Range Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $968,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 71,400 shares of company stock valued at $4,564,439 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, New Street Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $66.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $261.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

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.