Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Decreases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 238,281 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 696 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 0.7% of Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $11,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Tidemark LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at about $41,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 transaction of $64,965.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,794,278.35. 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. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of 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 stock has a market capitalization of $209.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $48.52 and a 200 day moving average of $48.05. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $54.58.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors 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 53.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. 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 note on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research upgraded 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 objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.11.

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.