Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CEO Sells $2,060,025.03 in Stock

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.59 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $257.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.