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

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 18.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 makes up about 0.7% of Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.35% of Cisco Systems worth $821,711,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Money Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 12,105 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 1,409 shares during the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc increased its position in Cisco Systems by 125.4% in the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 105,510 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,246,000 after acquiring an additional 58,696 shares in the last quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,832 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $16,590,000. Finally, Allstate Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,581,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.86 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $242.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.58, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.54.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.