Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CEO Sells $2,060,025.03 in Stock

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’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 $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $64.59. The stock had a trading volume of 22,039,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,130,648. The stock has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.