Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 2,114,994 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,880,257 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,114,994 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems accounts for 0.7% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $821,711,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Money Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 12,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 125.4% during the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 105,510 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,246,000 after purchasing an additional 58,696 shares in the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 172,297 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $10,200,000 after purchasing an additional 1,832 shares during the period. Allianz SE acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $16,590,000. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $6,581,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $60.86 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.12 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.54. 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 one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

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.