Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Purchases 14,568 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 258,127 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,568 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $13,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,069,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,717 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after buying an additional 1,847,682 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 33,536,256 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,802,909,000 after buying an additional 1,181,327 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,262,000 after buying an additional 3,753,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,376,937 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $611,624,000 after buying an additional 405,699 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.0 %

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.01 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $47.11. 14,161,773 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,119,422. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.70 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 company has a market cap of $190.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.73.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Company 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.