Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 87,660 call options on the company. This is an increase of 81% compared to the typical volume of 48,335 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $413,491,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after purchasing an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $61.82 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $245.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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, February 13th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

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.