Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Sets New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $60.32 and last traded at $60.28, with a volume of 2929187 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $59.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CSCO. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business's 50-day moving average price is $58.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.39. The company has a market capitalization of $240.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,402,432,000 after acquiring an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,261,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530,468 shares during the last 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.