Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Short Interest Up 5.5% in March

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 46,710,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the March 15th total of 44,280,000 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 19,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $47.79 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $45.56 and a 52 week high of $58.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 636 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.03.

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.