Seek First Inc. Buys 8,991 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Seek First Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 149.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,990 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,991 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.8% of Seek First Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Seek First Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 398,943,293 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $30,730,602,000 after buying an additional 4,049,893 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 53,612,720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,668,182,000 after buying an additional 5,081,469 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 48,498,612 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,318,275,000 after buying an additional 1,631,703 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 42,641,483 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,917,530,000 after buying an additional 1,804,625 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.2% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 37,674,954 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,577,720,000 after buying an additional 2,535,716 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. Evercore raised Cisco Systems from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. HSBC upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $134,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 156,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,076,329.51. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.54, for a total value of $42,724.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 27,957 shares in the company, valued at $2,167,785.78. The trade was a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $88.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $348.62 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.42 and a fifty-two week high of $90.45.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 58.95%.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.