Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Sold by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. trimmed its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 15.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,283 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 25,624 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $7,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 59.3% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 775,559 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,847,000 after acquiring an additional 288,775 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 264,647 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $12,573,000 after buying an additional 51,924 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. increased its position in Cisco Systems by 17.0% during the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $33,830,000 after buying an additional 92,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IRON Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $856,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 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 transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 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 value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 339,479 shares of company stock worth $19,490,991 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $59.29 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $59.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.45. 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 stock has a market cap of $236.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.45, a P/E/G ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.83.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on 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 upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

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.