Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading 1.3% Higher - Here's Why

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) shot up 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $65.09 and last traded at $65.03. 3,575,355 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 20,092,224 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CSCO. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.6%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.99, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the sale, the insider now owns 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total value of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 72,931 shares of company stock valued at $4,671,930. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Financial Services Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 298.3% in the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 709 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Birchbrook Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 2,964 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 108,752 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,711,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 42,731 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,637,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.