Ethic Inc. Has $27.33 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% to a total of 442,227 shares, valued at approximately $27.33 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly boosted their stakes in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter, with Brighton Jones LLC raising its stake by 49.5%.
• Analysts have raised price targets for Cisco Systems, with Bank of America setting a target of $85.00 and a consensus average target price of $72.90, indicating a strong outlook for the stock.

Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 442,227 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,465 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 0.6% of Ethic Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $27,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 24,562 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,746 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $873,000 after purchasing an additional 4,406 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 422,861 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $25,033,000 after purchasing an additional 25,069 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Square LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. CICC Research assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.90.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $69.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $274.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.90 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.85 and a 12-month high of $72.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.28.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.24% and a net margin of 18.45%. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total value of $952,950.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 131,676 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,365,376.28. This trade represents a 10.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.

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