Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $60.32 and last traded at $60.28, with a volume of 2929187 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.33.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.28.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $239.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $58.79 and its 200-day moving average is $53.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.