Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,785 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Retirement Group LLC raised its holdings 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 during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $52.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $210.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $54.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $48.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.15.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

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.