Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Purchases 261,400 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 82.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 579,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 261,400 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 0.7% of Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $30,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.48 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $56.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.70. The company has a market capitalization of $236.89 billion, a PE ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 4.43 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,258,974.53. The trade was a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. The trade was a 0.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 344,360 shares of company stock valued at $19,782,533. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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 research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

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.