Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 2,961 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 154,700 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,961 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $8,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 59.3% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 775,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,847,000 after purchasing an additional 288,775 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 24.4% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 264,647 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after buying an additional 51,924 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after purchasing an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.0% in the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $33,830,000 after buying an additional 92,179 shares during the period. Finally, IRON Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth approximately $856,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total value of $416,229.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,821,929.52. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This represents a 6.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,924 shares of company stock worth $1,798,131. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $57.47 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $53.82 and its 200-day moving average is $49.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 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 $59.38. The company has a market capitalization of $229.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83.

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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.62%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. New Street Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

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.