Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by Empirical Asset Management LLC

Empirical Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 39.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,338 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 13,155 shares during the quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $2,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 52,703 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,120,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,924 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 3,284 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 58,643 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,472,000 after purchasing an additional 5,404 shares during the period. Carnegie Investment Counsel increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 257,313 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $15,233,000 after purchasing an additional 20,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $603,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.41 on Friday, reaching $60.23. 23,800,968 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. The business's 50-day moving average is $58.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $60.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.