Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Down 0.4% - Here's What Happened

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s share price was down 0.4% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $60.33 and last traded at $60.43. Approximately 4,025,259 shares traded 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.63.

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Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $241.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.51, 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 50-day moving average of $61.72 and a 200-day moving average of $57.60.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 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 $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock worth $4,318,181 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $132,000. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. 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.

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