Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,607,689 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 72,370 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.06% of Cisco Systems worth $123,891,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $840,538,000. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 18,922,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $955,961,000 after buying an additional 6,054,748 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,254,739,000 after buying an additional 4,843,146 shares during the last quarter. Natixis increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 438.4% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 4,924,988 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $245,806,000 after buying an additional 4,010,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 47,195,836 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,384,334,000 after acquiring an additional 3,314,330 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.0 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $51.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.05. The firm has a market cap of $209.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $54.58.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The company’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.