Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 0.5% - What's Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $60.34 and last traded at $60.84. Approximately 3,671,603 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 17,820,358 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CSCO. Piper Sandler restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities raised 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 note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.63.

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Cisco Systems Price Performance

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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $61.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $242.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $413,491,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.