Merit Financial Group LLC Lowers Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Merit Financial Group LLC trimmed its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 2,277 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $3,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 18,750,237 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $947,262,000 after purchasing an additional 3,753,165 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $179,207,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7,074.3% during the third quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,271,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $175,883,000 after purchasing an additional 3,226,040 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,749,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $391,498,000 after acquiring an additional 1,909,597 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.33 on Friday, reaching $47.12. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 17,935,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,219,910. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $45.56 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market cap of $190.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 48.63%.

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.