Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 0.2% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares dropped 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $62.91 and last traded at $63.85. Approximately 4,529,005 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 19,571,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.96.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $252.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This trade represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $125,000. TFR Capital LLC. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. AG Asset Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $237,000. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.