Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 415 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $781,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 98.6% in the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 34,247 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 17,000 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 21.4% during the 2nd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 245,953 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,685,000 after buying an additional 43,311 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.1% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 328,666 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,615,000 after acquiring an additional 15,848 shares during the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 25.8% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,617 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Finally, Brightwater Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $245,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. New Street Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Despite investors’ hopes for a rebound in Networking Equipment demand to boost Cisco’s fourth-quarter 2024 performance, the anticipation is tempered by limited indications of a significant recovery in demand. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.00.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,376,085.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total value of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at $2,376,085.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock worth $3,509,049. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $52.43 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.25. The company has a market cap of $211.23 billion, a PE ratio of 17.65, a PEG ratio of 4.11 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $54.58.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.9 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.87%.

About Cisco Systems

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.