Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) To Go Ex-Dividend on July 3rd

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 14th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.41 per share by the network equipment provider on Wednesday, July 23rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd.

Cisco Systems has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. Cisco Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 41.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cisco Systems to earn $3.21 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.1%.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.26 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Cisco Systems stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 49.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,562 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $4,392,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $61.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.