Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 9,785 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 23,417 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 23,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 11,767 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 35.5% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 15,201 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $768,000 after purchasing an additional 3,982 shares during the last quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 170.4% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 88,556 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,474,000 after purchasing an additional 55,812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gold Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,197,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $53.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,856,446 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,521,535. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $54.58. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $48.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $211.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Cisco Systems's revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.