Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $73.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective raised by analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $69.00 to $73.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.16% from the company’s previous close.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.56.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $62.85. 17,767,584 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,967,555. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.36. The company has a market capitalization of $250.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. The trade was a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,979,000 after buying an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 36,707 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 188,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.