Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Up 1.5% Following Dividend Announcement

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares were up 1.5% during trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $66.50 and last traded at $63.50. Approximately 18,200,011 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 4% from the average daily volume of 19,045,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.53.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.56.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $251.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 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.