Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Hits New 12-Month High - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) hit a new 52-week high at $69.86, with a recent trading price of $69.75 and strong trading volume.
• Various analysts have provided ratings on Cisco, with KeyCorp giving it an "overweight" rating with a $77 price target, and the consensus rating being a "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $70.55.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, resulting in a 2.4% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 66.94%.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $69.86 and last traded at $69.75, with a volume of 154090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.21.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Cisco Systems from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.55.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.9%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $67.31 and a 200 day moving average of $62.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $282.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,447,806.26. This represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

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.