Cisco Systems Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 245,742 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 443% compared to the average daily volume of 45,258 call options.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $59.10 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.53. The company has a market cap of $235.38 billion, a PE ratio of 25.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $60.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America increased 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.28.

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.