Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price was down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $59.91 and last traded at $59.81. Approximately 3,237,196 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 17,848,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.89.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $239.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing 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 dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other 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.