Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) fell 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $59.91 and last traded at $59.81. 3,237,196 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 17,848,766 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.89.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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 reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $239.47 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $61.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 28,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,526,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Aljian Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $428,000. Equity Investment Corp lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,294,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $68,870,000 after buying an additional 6,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviso Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.