Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Down 1.8% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares dropped 1.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $76.94 and last traded at $77.74. Approximately 24,480,844 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average daily volume of 24,268,412 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. HSBC increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Melius Research upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.55.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.8%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $77.71 and a 200-day moving average of $73.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $307.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The firm had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 57.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,745 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.46, for a total transaction of $138,657.70. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 176,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,010,307.74. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total value of $1,039,789.53. Following the transaction, the director owned 61,630 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,753,521.90. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 73,498 shares of company stock valued at $5,641,815. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Bare Financial Services Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Jessup Wealth Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.