Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 870 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 870 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in 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 last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in 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. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $6,821,929.52. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 6.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,924 shares of company stock worth $1,798,131. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. HSBC raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $57.46 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. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $59.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $54.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.62% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm’s revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems 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.