Brokerages Set Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) PT at $62.72

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.53.

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.84 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.36. The stock has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. 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 released its earnings results 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 net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. 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.