Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Holdings Cut by Ballast Inc.

Ballast Inc. lowered its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,805 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 615 shares during the period. Ballast Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 37.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 46,973,293 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,898,722,000 after acquiring an additional 12,775,066 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter worth about $750,495,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1,144.2% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,120,886 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $501,140,000 after acquiring an additional 7,468,212 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 181,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.7%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $71.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $284.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $72.02. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. KeyCorp began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “in-line” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.55.

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.