The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $294.92 Million Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 87.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 owned about 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $294,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 226.9% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 18,339 shares during the period. Redwood Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 291.7% during the 1st quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 43,728 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,182,000 after buying an additional 32,563 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 361,722 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $18,049,000 after buying an additional 15,778 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $233,000. Finally, Alethea Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $470,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CSCO. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. HSBC upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $59.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $31,319.42. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at $2,258,974.53. This trade represents a 1.37 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 342,858 shares of company stock worth $19,661,157 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $59.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,206,565 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,233,521. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.64. The company's 50-day moving average is $55.35 and its 200-day moving average is $50.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $237.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 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.