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

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.28.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during 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. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $58.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $234.43 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $60.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

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.