Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Bought by Verity & Verity LLC

Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 353,092 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,595 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 1.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $18,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter valued at $840,538,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $262,646,000 after acquiring an additional 4,842,542 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 26.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $691,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,357 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4,524.9% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,087,369 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,110,900,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042,236 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. This represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The trade was a 0.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 13,615 shares of company stock valued at $682,681. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $57.31 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $228.71 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.94.

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.