Short Interest in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Expands By 5.5%

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

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $47.92. The stock had a trading volume of 14,229,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,646,592. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19. The firm has a market cap of $194.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,835,509,000 after purchasing an additional 59,466,550 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,528,939,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 45,217,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,397,000 after acquiring an additional 11,552,694 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,943,593,000 after purchasing an additional 9,160,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $752,554,000 after purchasing an additional 6,621,125 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Bank of America raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday. Citigroup began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.