StockNews.com Upgrades Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an equal weight rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an overweight rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a neutral rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Cisco Systems from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $47.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $45.56 and a 52 week high of $58.19. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $48.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.77.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, 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 transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,672,445,000 after buying an additional 6,345,954 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 68,463,463 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,417,011,000 after buying an additional 2,386,508 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,069,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,717 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 50,549,422 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,717,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,847,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,528,939,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.