GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 53,108 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,665,000. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.7% of GAMMA Investing LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,717 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 113,352 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,727,000 after acquiring an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 30,851 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,679 shares during the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 74,125 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,745,000 after acquiring an additional 6,555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marks Group Wealth Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 9,658 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th. Melius Research reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $48.32. 16,239,196 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,471,814. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.56 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.17.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.63%.

Cisco Systems 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.