Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 236,024 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,557 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $16,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 96.2% during the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. CICC Research lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 16,150 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $1,248,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 157,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,807.04. The trade was a 9.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $1,039,789.53. Following the sale, the director owned 61,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,753,521.90. The trade was a 17.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 108,493 shares of company stock worth $8,435,818 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $76.85 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.11 and a 1 year high of $88.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.79 and a 200 day moving average of $73.20. The stock has a market cap of $303.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The business had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 57.54%.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.