Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Up 0.4% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares shot up 0.4% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $66.25 and last traded at $65.14. 5,380,374 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 19,587,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.87.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. 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 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pflug Koory LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $302,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.