Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Insider Jeetendra I. Patel Sells 9,961 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total transaction of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $58.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.81. The stock has a market cap of $252.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth $520,000. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth $1,288,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 87.2% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 56,779 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,504,000 after acquiring an additional 26,455 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 88.9% during the first quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 49,988 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,085,000 after acquiring an additional 23,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ransom Advisory Ltd bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth $2,730,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.