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

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 71,548 call options on the company. This is an increase of 34% compared to the average volume of 53,501 call options.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $1.39 on Thursday, hitting $57.79. The stock had a trading volume of 9,875,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,996,100. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.64. The stock has a market cap of $230.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 62.99%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $368,697.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 165,580 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,307.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 7,462 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.41, for a total value of $368,697.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 165,580 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,307.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total value of $416,229.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,544 shares in the company, valued at $6,821,929.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.8% during the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 8,115 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 74.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 97,326 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,160,000 after buying an additional 41,625 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 175,424 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,336,000 after buying an additional 19,800 shares during the period. Tybourne Capital Management HK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $744,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the third quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 174,153 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,268,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.68.

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.