Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $73.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Citigroup from $71.00 to $73.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.15% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CSCO. Bank of America upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO traded up $0.44 on Thursday, reaching $64.52. The stock had a trading volume of 10,048,313 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,327,793. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $61.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.61. The company has a market cap of $256.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at $502,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 635,667 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,830,000 after purchasing an additional 92,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.