Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Trims Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,183,883 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 12,706 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $151,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,340,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,598 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.6% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 3,314,330 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% during the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 4,843,146 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 24,941,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,260,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,723,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 47.1% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 18,922,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $955,961,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054,748 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $51.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $209.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.83. 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 $54.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The business’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.08%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were 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 $6,501,957.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. New Street Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. 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. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.11.

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.