Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya Sells 2,065 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $60.46 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.62. The stock has a market cap of $240.53 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50.

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 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 71.62%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $699,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Old North State Trust LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 24,383 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Finally, TFR Capital LLC. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.