Advisory Resource Group Purchases 385 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Advisory Resource Group lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,139 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.1% of Advisory Resource Group’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Advisory Resource Group’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,501,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares in the company, valued at $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 72,931 shares of company stock worth $4,671,930. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $65.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.69. The company has a market capitalization of $260.73 billion, a PE ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.