Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 236,024 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,557 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $16,149,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Winnow Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. President Capital reduced their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $88.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. CICC Research lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.19.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $76.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $303.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.87. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.20. 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.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,745 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total value of $138,657.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 176,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,010,307.74. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total value of $1,039,789.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 61,630 shares in the company, valued at $4,753,521.90. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 108,493 shares of company stock worth $8,435,818. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Profile

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.