Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Buys 1,112,109 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 14,975.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,119,535 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,112,109 shares during the period. Cisco Systems accounts for 1.2% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $66,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CSCO traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.23. 23,800,968 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. The stock has a market cap of $239.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The stock's 50-day moving average is $58.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.52. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $3,345,228.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.50.

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.