Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Downgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a neutral rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $56.47.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $46.60 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.45 and its 200-day moving average is $49.37. The company has a market cap of $188.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.89. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $46.20 and a 52-week high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.18. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,457 shares of company stock worth $1,358,772 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the third quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,686 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.3% during the third quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,232 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mcintyre Freedman & Flynn Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 59,756 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,019,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Finally, Hyman Charles D lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Hyman Charles D now owns 70,727 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,573,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.