Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Up 0.8% – Here’s What Happened

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price rose 0.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $60.95 and last traded at $60.77. Approximately 2,132,520 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 17,835,394 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $243.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $61.86 and a 200 day moving average of $57.94.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value 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 approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Napa Wealth Management purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $210,000. New England Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 141,896 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $7,552,000 after acquiring an additional 840 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 78.3% during the 3rd quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,789 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $574,000 after acquiring an additional 4,739 shares during the period. Finally, Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 87,924 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,679,000 after acquiring an additional 2,346 shares during the period. 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.