Altshuler Shaham Ltd Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1,383.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,965 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,563 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. JB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 154,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,299,000 after purchasing an additional 20,151 shares during the last quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 9.6% in the third quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 48,730 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,620,000 after buying an additional 4,283 shares in the last quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Keating Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 9,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $519,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $404,000. Finally, Crescent Grove Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5.9% during the third quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 17,252 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $927,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Bank of America upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.21 on Thursday, reaching $47.79. 12,198,879 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,946,641. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.75 and a 200-day moving average of $49.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $193.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $45.70 and a 1-year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 48.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

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.