Nemes Rush Group LLC Buys 14,626 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Nemes Rush Group LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 243,781 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,626 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.8% of Nemes Rush Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Nemes Rush Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $14,432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,496.4% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 134,748 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,171,000 after purchasing an additional 126,307 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 140,929 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $7,500,000 after purchasing an additional 26,446 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 46,613 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastwise Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 25,470 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,356,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $61.71 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $62.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.