Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price increased by Citigroup from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.45% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.6 %

CSCO opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.42. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.