First Merchants Corp Sells 8,294 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

First Merchants Corp cut its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 9.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,130 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 8,294 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the company'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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 174,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $68.95 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.31 and a 200 day moving average of $61.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $273.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $69.25.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. 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. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $69.53.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.