Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $72.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target hoisted by Evercore ISI from $67.00 to $72.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.69. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Greenline Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 32,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,010,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Pflug Koory LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,955,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Finally, Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.