Citigroup Initiates Coverage on Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Equities research analysts at Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target on the network equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.24% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, Melius Research restated a “hold” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $48.49 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $196.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.25 and a 200 day moving average of $50.43.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 636 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently 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.