Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $45.44, but opened at $48.75. Cisco Systems shares last traded at $49.61, with a volume of 10,462,395 shares changing hands.

The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 21.88% and a return on equity of 30.82%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. New Street Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.63.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 8,016 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.24, for a total value of $386,691.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 180,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,717,209.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,378 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.89, for a total value of $155,016.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 52,953 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,430,013.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 8,016 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.24, for a total transaction of $386,691.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 180,705 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,717,209.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 41,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,923. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 59,756 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,019,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Hyman Charles D raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Hyman Charles D now owns 70,727 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,573,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 8,237 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $411,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Holland Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Holland Advisory Services Inc. now owns 4,231 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 7,385 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 6.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $195.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $46.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.92.

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.