Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 0.7% – Here’s What Happened

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares dropped 0.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $64.29 and last traded at $64.40. Approximately 2,448,029 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 19,402,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.1 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $254.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.15.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $502,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.0% in the third quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,830,000 after acquiring an additional 92,179 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.