Verity & Verity LLC Has $17.75 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Verity & Verity LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 27.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,563 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 108,052 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises 1.6% of Verity & Verity LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $17,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $603,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 49.5% in 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 raised its position in Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $541,000. Finally, TFB Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $253,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.6%

CSCO traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $64.09. 14,630,776 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,161,810. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $60.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.57.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total transaction of $57,778.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 255,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 36,937 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 72,931 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,930 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.