MetLife Investment Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,048,075 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 32,089 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $55,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSCO. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd 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 holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC raised shares of 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 note on Friday, August 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Ten equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.94.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 219,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,596,059. The trade was a 20.98 % 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, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 339,479 shares of company stock valued at $19,490,991. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $59.59. 14,209,693 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,276,684. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.32. 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 firm has a market cap of $237.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $59.64.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend 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.