Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $59.02 and last traded at $58.70. Approximately 3,102,207 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 18,896,824 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.63.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on CSCO. HSBC upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.32.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $234.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.49.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.99%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total value of $1,342,221.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at $33,794,278.35. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.