Stock Buyback Program Approved by Cisco Systems (CSCO) Board

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program, which permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares on Wednesday, February 13th. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, November 15th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 15th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “positive” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 15th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $53.22.

Get Cisco Systems alerts:

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $49.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.11. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $40.19 and a 52 week high of $49.68.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $12.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.43 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.99% and a net margin of 25.31%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 56.41%.

In other news, Director M Michele Burns sold 4,744 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $209,020.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 74,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,267,665.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kelly A. Kramer sold 70,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.44, for a total value of $3,320,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 492,301 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,354,759.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 166,067 shares of company stock worth $7,804,662 in the last ninety days. 0.03% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: This piece was originally posted by Ticker Report and is owned by of Ticker Report. If you are reading this piece on another publication, it was copied illegally and republished in violation of US & international copyright and trademark laws. The legal version of this piece can be read at https://www.tickerreport.com/banking-finance/4155595/stock-buyback-program-approved-by-cisco-systems-csco-board.html.

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 worldwide. The company offers switching products; routing products that interconnect public and private wireline and mobile networks; data center products; and wireless access points for use in voice, video, and data applications.

Further Reading: Does the Step Transaction Doctrine Affect a Backdoor Roth IRA?