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

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 42.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 890,797 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 646,434 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $52,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 69,701 shares in the last quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 27,841 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $81,178,000. Unison Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 worth $3,913,000 after acquiring an additional 479 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $240,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % 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 link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

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

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Cisco Systems

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.