Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 706,823 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 43,442 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $43,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold a total of 71,400 shares of company stock worth $4,564,439 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.2%

Cisco Systems stock traded up $1.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.06. The company had a trading volume of 20,913,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,135,416. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $59.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $261.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.00.

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.