Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Cut to $60.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $72.00 to $60.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.2 %

CSCO opened at $53.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.08%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This trade represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,889 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $420,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Valued Retirements Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at about $264,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares during the last quarter. RB Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the third quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 9,850 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Twin Lakes Capital Management LLC now owns 14,824 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $789,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.