Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Richard Scott Herren Sells 19,929 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.19 and its 200 day moving average is $55.76. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid 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 is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

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.