First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 199,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 2.1% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $10,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 226.9% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 18,339 shares during the period. PFG Advisors increased its position in Cisco Systems by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 21,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 202,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,114,000 after purchasing an additional 5,441 shares during the period. WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems by 76.3% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,304 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, New Street Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.74.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total transaction of $368,697.42. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,307.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $58.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.40. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $58.30.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 62.99%.

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.