Cisco Systems Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 62,314 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 18% compared to the typical volume of 52,983 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,683,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $395,269,000 after purchasing an additional 382,804 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 81.8% in the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,331,911 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $256,449,000 after buying an additional 1,949,145 shares in the last quarter. Capital Square LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $216,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $2,311,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 2,048,300 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $121,259,000 after acquiring an additional 89,387 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.1 %

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.84 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.89 and a 200-day moving average of $55.36. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.