Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Sells 646,434 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 42.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 890,797 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 646,434 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $52,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aviva PLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 2,407,353 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $142,515,000 after buying an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 27,841 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,648,000 after buying an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $81,178,000. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 66,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,913,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $240,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have 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

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $54.54 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released 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%. Equities 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 has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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 lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

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.