First Merchants Corp Decreases Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

First Merchants Corp reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.3% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 77,328 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,802 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $5,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Eagle Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $211,000. Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 11,714 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $797,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 41,920 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Nelson Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nelson Capital Management LLC now owns 131,876 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,983 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Financial Advisors Inc increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 18,893 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.9%

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $70.33 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.11 and a twelve month high of $72.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.03 billion, a PE ratio of 26.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $68.18 and its 200 day moving average is $64.75.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.06% and a net margin of 18.45%.The company had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 62.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $185,041.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 157,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,701,086.72. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.78, for a total value of $116,464.32. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 158,009 shares in the company, valued at $10,551,841.02. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 82,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,996. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. CICC Research began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.53.

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.