Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,541,607 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,591,684 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $294,923,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,402,239,000 after acquiring an additional 1,677,383 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,340,764,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853,598 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,261,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,468 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter worth $840,538,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.74 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $59.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $233.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $55.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.24.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 342,858 shares of company stock worth $19,661,157. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Tigress Financial raised their price target 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, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

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.