Griffith & Werner Inc. Makes New $481,000 Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Griffith & Werner Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,672 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $481,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fox Hill Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth approximately $313,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 4.0% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Cisco Systems by 150.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,235,392 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,257,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083,227 shares during the period. Finally, CI Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.5% in 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 in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. Wall Street Zen raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.55.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 11,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $854,848.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 262,776 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,970,976. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the director owned 61,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,753,521.90. This trade represents a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,677 shares of company stock valued at $5,811,211. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $78.96 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.11 and a twelve month high of $88.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 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 firm had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase 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 is currently 57.54%.

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.