Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading 0.3% Higher – Here’s Why

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price shot up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $57.91 and last traded at $57.56. 2,606,355 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 20,029,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.74.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.1 %

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 company has a market cap of $228.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.08.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. 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 payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 47,238,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,796,505,000 after acquiring an additional 4,832,813 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,159,099,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,419,041 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,741,597,000 after purchasing an additional 681,555 shares in the last quarter. 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.