Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Cisco Systems Call Options (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 245,742 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 443% compared to the average volume of 45,258 call options.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $59.10. 14,860,320 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,212,635. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.53. The company has a market capitalization of $235.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 365,314 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,001,901.86. This represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $60.28.

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.