Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Down 1.4% – Should You Sell?

by · The Markets Daily

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Free Report)’s share price fell 1.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $60.85 and last traded at $61.17. 7,170,227 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 19,909,787 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.06.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $241.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.53.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Old North State Trust LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 24,383 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $125,000. TFR Capital LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $213,000. AG Asset Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $212,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Cisco Systems

(Get Free Report)

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.

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