Kristina M. Johnson Sells 7,500 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.89 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $238.53 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 4.44 and a beta of 0.85. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.23.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.67%.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. New Street Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.94.

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.