Monetta Financial Services Inc. Invests $864,000 in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Monetta Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc., purchasing 14,000 shares valued at approximately $864,000 during the first quarter.
• Insider trading activity included the sale of shares by Maria Victoria Wong and Deborah L. Stahlkopf, indicating a decrease in their ownership percentages.
• Several analysts have recently upgraded their target prices for Cisco, with JPMorgan raising it from $73.00 to $78.00 and Morgan Stanley from $67.00 to $70.00, reflecting confidence in the company's future performance.

Monetta Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 14,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $864,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 224.7% in the first quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 578 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter worth about $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $1.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $71.79. The company had a trading volume of 31,389,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,692,797. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $72.02. The company's fifty day moving average is $67.31 and its 200-day moving average is $62.96. The company has a market capitalization of $284.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 174,669 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. The trade was a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.