Cisco Systems Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 62,314 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 18% compared to the average volume of 52,983 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.1 %

CSCO stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.23. 20,313,118 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,098,609. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $59.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.36. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $251.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

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

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 paid 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 yield of 2.59%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

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.