Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 33,404 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 424,830 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 33,404 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $22,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded down $0.46 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $57.46. 28,166,824 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,144,939. The firm has a market capitalization of $229.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.69. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.62% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm'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 company posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.42.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. This trade represents a 0.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 22,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $1,115,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 293,184 shares in the company, valued at $14,659,200. This represents a 7.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.