Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 on April 23rd

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.41 per share by the network equipment provider on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a 2.5% increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Cisco Systems has raised its dividend by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Cisco Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 41.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cisco Systems to earn $3.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.1%.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $61.71 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.69. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $245.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (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%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Cisco Systems stock. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 37.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.