Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 0.4% – Still a Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares rose 0.4% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $66.25 and last traded at $65.14. Approximately 5,380,374 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 19,587,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.87.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The company 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

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 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,151 shares of company stock worth $5,510,263 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Hedge funds and other 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.