Northwest Bancshares Inc. Reduces Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 14.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,993 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 22,868 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up 1.2% of Northwest Bancshares Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Northwest Bancshares Inc.'s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 617.7% during the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.94.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.3 %

CSCO stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $57.17. The company had a trading volume of 5,529,285 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,097,598. 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 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.38. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.52 and a 200 day moving average of $49.95. The company has a market cap of $228.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.47, a PEG ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 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 transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 321,628 shares of company stock worth $18,449,561. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

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.