Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 226,493 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 40.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 329,744 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 226,493 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $19,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company's stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $56.84. 23,101,648 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,240,080. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $59.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.27. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $226.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.