Verity & Verity LLC Reduces Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Verity & Verity LLC lessened its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 27.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 287,563 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 108,052 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for approximately 1.6% of Verity & Verity LLC's holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $69.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 181,186 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at $16,450,653.14. This represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,931 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,930 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO traded up $1.42 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $65.51. 16,808,534 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,148,626. The company has a market capitalization of $259.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Cisco Systems Company 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.