Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 0.4% After Insider Selling

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares dropped 0.4% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $60.33 and last traded at $60.43. Approximately 4,025,259 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 19,957,496 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.67.

Specifically, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.75 and a 200-day moving average of $57.63. 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 company has a market cap of $239.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $1,776,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $699,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $261,000. Old North State Trust LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 24,383 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $125,000. 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.