Griffith & Werner Inc. Purchases Shares of 6,672 Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Griffith & Werner Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 6,672 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fox Hill Wealth Management bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth approximately $313,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 95,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,547,000 after buying an additional 3,688 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 150.8% during the 3rd quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 784,906 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $53,703,000 after buying an additional 472,000 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,235,392 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,257,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 376,279 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,745,000 after acquiring an additional 26,129 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $78.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $311.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.11 and a 52-week high of $88.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.91.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $83.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. CICC Research upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Citic Securities upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.55.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,179 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total transaction of $169,395.46. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 28,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,239,456.18. This trade represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 19,545 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $1,485,420.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 671,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,003,220. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,677 shares of company stock worth $5,811,211. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.