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

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 94,404 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical daily volume of 64,286 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.47.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.34, for a total value of $118,745.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 176,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,250.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.34, for a total value of $118,745.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 176,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,250.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $1,213,859.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 725,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,439,234.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,923. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1,096.2% during the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,906,676 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $146,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,663,676 shares during the period. Roble Belko & Company Inc increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 77.1% during the 4th quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 2,788 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $28,685,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $240,335,000 after acquiring an additional 49,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 192,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.2 %

CSCO opened at $47.29 on Friday. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.95 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $190.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.87%.

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.