Verity & Verity LLC Has $23.42 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 395,615 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,523 shares during the period. Cisco Systems comprises 2.1% of Verity & Verity LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Quarry LP raised 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 buying an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $60.23. 23,800,968 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. The firm has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.57. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $60.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. Barclays lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems 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.