Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.53.

A number of analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 9,334 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $262,000. Wahed Invest LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 103,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,138,000 after acquiring an additional 5,842 shares during the last quarter. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $425,000. Finally, Arrow Financial Corp grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Arrow Financial Corp now owns 54,592 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,232,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

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.