Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,012,313 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,360 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $53,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aviso Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the third quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.6% in the third quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 11,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $55.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.15. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The company has a market cap of $233.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.13, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 342,858 shares of company stock valued at $19,661,157. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. New Street Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.94.

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.