Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 0.1% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) traded down 0.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $62.80 and last traded at $63.20. 3,135,268 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 19,642,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.26.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.61 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.16.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. 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 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,772 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $414,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 46,809 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,491,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.7% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 68,642 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,653,000 after buying an additional 13,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the third quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 66,055 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,515,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.