ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 3,963 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 904,829 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,963 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises about 2.2% of ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $53,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,744 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the third quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $346,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Andina Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the third quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.6% in the third quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 11,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.23 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.61. The stock has a market cap of $239.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $60.95.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems Company 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.