Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Up 6.7% on Strong Earnings

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price rose 6.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $65.56 and last traded at $65.39. Approximately 23,734,968 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 16% from the average daily volume of 20,423,008 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.29.

The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company’s 50 day moving average is $58.69 and its 200-day moving average is $59.60. The company has a market capitalization of $255.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

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.