Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Hits New 52-Week High Following Dividend Announcement

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $66.41 and last traded at $65.16, with a volume of 566935 shares traded. 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 given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.67.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.89 and its 200-day moving average is $55.36. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $259.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

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 return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% in the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after buying an additional 162,544 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.