Let’s now briefly turn our focus on Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s recent financial performance. Cisco generated revenue of $24.61 billion during the six months that ended January 23, up from $24.18 billion reported for the same period of the prior year. The company’s sales, especially in the enterprise market, have been impacted by uncertainty in the global macroeconomic environment, which resulted in softer customer spending. Cisco’s net income for the six-month period that ended January 23 totaled $5.58 billion, up 32% year-on-year. It should be noted that Cisco shares are currently trading 11.35-times expected earnings, notably below the forward P/E ratio of 15.00 for the Information Technology sector.
How are hedge funds trading Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)?
Heading into 2016, a total of 60 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a decline of 10% from the third quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Yacktman Asset Management, managed by Donald Yacktman, holds the largest position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO). Yacktman Asset Management has a $843 million position in the stock, comprising 6.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick’s First Pacific Advisors, which holds a $445.2 million position; the fund has 3.9% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that hold long positions include Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.
Due to the fact that Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has witnessed a declining sentiment from the smart money, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of money managers that elected to cut their positions entirely last quarter. At the top of the heap, Michael Messner’s Seminole Capital (Investment Mgmt) dumped the largest position of the “upper crust” of funds followed by Insider Monkey, comprising about $104.8 million in stock, and Clint Carlson’s Carlson Capital was right behind this move, as the fund cut about $45.6 million worth of shares. These transactions are important to note, as total hedge fund interest dropped by seven funds last quarter.
The concluding page of this article lays out the hedge fund activity in a few other companies that have market capitalizations similar to CSCO’s market capitalization.
