Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading 1.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price traded up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $65.07 and last traded at $64.87. 23,689,653 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 18,137,774 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $258.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.