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

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares shot up 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $66.25 and last traded at $65.14. 5,380,374 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 19,587,131 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.19 and a 200-day moving average of $55.76.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.41 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,151 shares of company stock valued at $5,510,263 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.