Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 0.2% – Here’s Why

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell 0.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $62.91 and last traded at $63.85. 4,529,005 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 19,571,031 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven 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, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %

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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.34. The firm has a market cap of $254.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.