BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Lowers Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lowered its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 1.1% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,471,232 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 27,898 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $131,519,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 456 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 617.7% during the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the 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 $3,345,228.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,596,059. This trade represents a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 321,628 shares of company stock valued at $18,449,561. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $57.50 on Thursday. 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 $229.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.00. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.