Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 1.1% – Time to Sell?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price traded down 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $62.89 and last traded at $62.80. 5,578,887 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 19,579,150 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas upgraded 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. Finally, DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $251.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.06.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized 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 leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of 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 bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.