Palouse Capital Management Inc. Purchases 37,314 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 274.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,892 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,314 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 1.6% of Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,418,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mittelman Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth about $354,000. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.9% in the second quarter. Middleton & Co. Inc. MA now owns 4,907 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $233,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.6% in the second quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 95,579 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,541,000 after acquiring an additional 9,127 shares during the period. Sienna Gestion grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 41.2% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 310,525 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $14,746,000 after acquiring an additional 90,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $242,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $50.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $56.21. The company has a market capitalization of $203.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total value of $416,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,821,929.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.89.

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.