Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases 2,267 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 75,941 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,267 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.5% during the third quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 10,311 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Willis Investment Counsel lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.4% in the third quarter. Willis Investment Counsel now owns 890,204 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,377,000 after acquiring an additional 3,383 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 1,075,028 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $57,213,000 after acquiring an additional 10,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 43,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.9 %

CSCO stock opened at $62.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $250.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $63.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $59.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.10.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.