Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Here’s Why

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) dropped 0.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $60.34 and last traded at $60.84. Approximately 3,671,603 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 17,820,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $239.89 billion, a PE ratio of 26.33, 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.05.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid 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 yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

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

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.