Willis Investment Counsel Has $47.38 Million Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Willis Investment Counsel boosted its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 890,204 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,383 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises 3.1% of Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $47,377,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Retirement Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 56.8% in the first quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 726 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $54.25 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 4.22 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.39. 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 $54.58.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total value of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 165,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,307.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price 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. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.00.

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.