Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 1.3% – Time to Sell?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares were down 1.3% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $63.25 and last traded at $63.41. Approximately 9,244,459 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 20,447,970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CSCO shares. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.69.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.62%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Greenline Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 32,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.