Short Interest in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Declines By 28.8%

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw a large decline in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 40,970,000 shares, a decline of 28.8% from the May 15th total of 57,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 22,780,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $154,072.07. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 177,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. The trade was a 1.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 owns 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $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 90 days, 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

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday. New Street Research restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.2%

Cisco Systems stock opened at $65.51 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $259.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.88. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

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.