The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 454,497 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,996,104 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 454,497 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.15% of Cisco Systems worth $354,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $232,000. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $80,000. Israel Discount Bank of New York bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Mendel Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Finally, Betterment LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $248,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $58.12. The company had a trading volume of 16,404,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,245,710. The company has a market capitalization of $231.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.26.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

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.