Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 181,959 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 975 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up about 2.3% of Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 775,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,847,000 after purchasing an additional 288,775 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 24.4% during the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 264,647 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after buying an additional 51,924 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its position in Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $88,261,000 after acquiring an additional 162,544 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 40,863 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,941,000 after acquiring an additional 1,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,053 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,899,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research 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. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Cisco Systems from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.74.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $55.74. 14,680,466 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,091,068. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $57.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.87.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $368,697.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,307.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % 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. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $368,697.42. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 165,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,307.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total value of $416,229.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,821,929.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.