Verity & Verity LLC Has $15.62 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 328,666 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,848 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 1.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $15,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Cisco Systems by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 34,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,765,000 after buying an additional 6,838 shares during the last quarter. Carmignac Gestion grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Carmignac Gestion now owns 38,360 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares in the last quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.6% during the 4th quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 9,860 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 4,276 shares in the last quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Edge Capital Group LLC now owns 19,784 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 2,333 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 196.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 747,272 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $37,752,000 after buying an additional 495,150 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $52.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $54.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 53.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.