Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Sells $1,283,626.89 in Stock

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $258.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.55 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.95.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. 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 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 69.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. AA Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at $213,000. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 21,554 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Finally, Penn Davis Mcfarland Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,117,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.