Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Takes $16.80 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 315,640 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $16,798,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth $25,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. The trade was a 6.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 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 approximately $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 342,858 shares of company stock valued at $19,661,157. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $58.74 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $59.38. The firm has a market cap of $233.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.17 and its 200-day moving average is $50.24.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders 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 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

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.