Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.6% - Time to Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 1.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $65.07 and last traded at $64.87. 23,689,653 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 18,137,774 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $257.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.55 and a 200-day moving average of $56.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is currently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share buyback program 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 reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.