Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya Sells 2,065 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $60.46. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,933,605 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,297,693. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $240.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.62.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 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 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.