Merit Financial Group LLC Has $7.98 Million Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 75.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 134,765 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,045 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.23 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $60.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.50.

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.