Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.41

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.41 per share by the network equipment provider on Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40.

Cisco Systems has increased its dividend by an average of 2.6% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Cisco Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 40.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cisco Systems to earn $3.17 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.5%.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $62.53 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $249.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.84 and its 200-day moving average is $55.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $63.25.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Six equities research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.94.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.