Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) SVP Maria Victoria Wong Sells 762 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Maria Victoria Wong also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 12th, Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $60.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $240.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.