Marshall Wace LLP Has $295.21 Million Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 143.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,986,627 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 2,936,567 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.13% of Cisco Systems worth $295,208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following 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. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $55.73. 15,874,222 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,146,629. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.13.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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 research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign 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 given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.58.

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.