Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.5% – Time to Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price rose 1.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $59.08 and last traded at $59.00. Approximately 3,634,532 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 22,166,947 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $236.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.34.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.