Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 13.7% in March to 56,186,651 shares (about 1.4% of shares outstanding), leaving a short-interest ratio of roughly 2.1 days based on average daily volume.
• Large institutions significantly added to positions—led by Norges Bank and big increases from Auto Owners, Price T. Rowe and Franklin Resources—leaving about 73.33% of Cisco held by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Cisco raised its quarterly dividend to $0.42 (annualized $1.68, ~2.0% yield) and recently reported a beat with $1.04 EPS and revenue of $15.35 billion, up 9.7% year‑over‑year.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 56,186,651 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the March 15th total of 65,121,716 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 26,437,256 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 3,132 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total value of $249,745.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 188,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,040,000.62. This represents a 1.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,179 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total value of $169,395.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 28,807 shares in the company, valued at $2,239,456.18. This represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,431 shares of company stock valued at $3,574,820. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $4,473,272,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8,718.3% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 51,952,421 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $400,190,000 after purchasing an additional 51,363,281 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,289,151 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,256,144,000 after buying an additional 14,874,407 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 110.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,406,442 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,259,369,000 after buying an additional 9,648,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 50,320,905 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,876,219,000 after buying an additional 7,679,422 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.9%

CSCO stock traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $85.23. 2,838,191 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,760,723. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $336.66 billion, a PE ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $53.83 and a 1-year high of $88.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. President Capital reduced their target price on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Argus raised Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.81.

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.

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