Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $61.33 and last traded at $61.16, with a volume of 2377697 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $60.23.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.81. The company has a market cap of $245.46 billion, a PE ratio of 26.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.