FORA Capital LLC Invests $10.99 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 206,460 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,988,000. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 1.3% of FORA Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth about $840,538,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after buying an additional 5,885,879 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cisco Systems by 22.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after buying an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after buying an additional 4,842,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 87.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $294,923,000 after acquiring an additional 2,591,684 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO traded up $0.85 on Wednesday, hitting $59.59. 14,209,693 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,276,684. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $59.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $237.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.35 and its 200 day moving average is $50.32.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 339,479 shares of company stock worth $19,490,991 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

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.