Cisco Systems Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Key Points

• Cisco Systems experienced unusually high options trading activity, with investors buying 90,628 call options, representing a 62% increase from the typical volume.
• Executive vice presidents Deborah L. Stahlkopf and Thimaya K. Subaiya both sold shares of the company's stock, resulting in slight decreases in their ownership percentages.
• Cisco reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.99, beating estimates, with a net margin of 18.45% and revenue growth of 7.6% year-over-year.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 90,628 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 62% compared to the typical volume of 56,052 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $185,041.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 157,184 shares in the company, valued at $10,701,086.72. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.78, for a total transaction of $116,464.32. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 158,009 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,551,841.02. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,996 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 892,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $55,049,000 after acquiring an additional 6,501 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 255.9% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 7,819,547 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $482,509,000 after acquiring an additional 5,622,672 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 28.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,037,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $249,180,000 after acquiring an additional 904,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banque Pictet & Cie SA lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 55,168 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $3,813,000 after acquiring an additional 535 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO traded up $1.47 on Wednesday, reaching $70.46. The company had a trading volume of 15,704,858 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,928,262. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.71. The company has a market cap of $278.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $52.11 and a 52-week high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.06%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is presently 62.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CSCO. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.53.

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.

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