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

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price shot up 0.4% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $66.25 and last traded at $65.14. 5,380,374 shares were traded during mid-day 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 Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $257.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 $47,413,489.20. This trade represents 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 at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Pflug Koory LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Financial Group Inc. increased 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 valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.