Everest Management Corp. Makes New $674,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Everest Management Corp. bought a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,916 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $674,000. Cisco Systems comprises 0.6% of Everest Management Corp.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,593,000 after acquiring an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, 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 hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,478,105.49. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CSCO. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $66.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.61 and a 200-day moving average of $60.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

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.