Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 38,800 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,068,821 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 38,800 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.10% of Cisco Systems worth $240,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Advisory Resource Group grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 97,718 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,201,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $1,097,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,503 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $7,318,000 after buying an additional 16,749 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.71. 16,493,138 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,228,446. The company has a market cap of $225.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.76, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.23. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

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

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, 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 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 represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. 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 three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.