Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Richard Scott Herren Sells 19,929 Shares

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $64.59. 22,039,748 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,130,648. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.76. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $257.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 162,544 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

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.