Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.5% - Should You Buy?

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) were up 1.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $59.08 and last traded at $59.00. Approximately 3,634,532 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 22,166,947 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.05.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $239.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $58.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $132,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 112,101 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $6,636,000 after purchasing an additional 5,123 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $1,670,000. Finally, Stonegate Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Stonegate Investment Group LLC now owns 1,539,557 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $91,142,000 after acquiring an additional 11,506 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.