Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 19,612 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 18,470 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $880,000 after buying an additional 2,157 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 72.1% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 121,391 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,783,000 after buying an additional 50,869 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 3,837,562 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $182,821,000 after buying an additional 173,832 shares during the last quarter. WMS Partners LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. WMS Partners LLC now owns 34,297 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,634,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Biltmore Family Office LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Biltmore Family Office LLC now owns 44,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,139,000 after purchasing an additional 1,447 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.10% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CSCO traded up $0.69 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $47.25. 19,664,960 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,544,448. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.60 and a 52-week high of $52.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.84. The firm has a market cap of $193.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.12. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 31.19% and a net margin of 21.26%. The firm had revenue of $13.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 4th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Loop Capital increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, March 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $56.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 23,701 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.90, for a total value of $1,206,380.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 184,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,409,017.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 20,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.08, for a total transaction of $987,342.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 798,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $39,213,447.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 23,701 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.90, for a total value of $1,206,380.90. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,853 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,409,017.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,568 shares of company stock worth $2,376,624. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Profile

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Cisco Systems, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of Internet Protocol-based networking products and services related to the communications and information technology industry. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: the Americas, EMEA, and APJC. Its products include the following categories: Switches, Routers, Wireless, Network Management Interfaces and Modules, Optical Networking, Access Points, Outdoor and Industrial Access Points, Next-Generation Firewalls, Advanced Malware Protection, VPN Security Clients, Email, and Web Security.

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