Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $70.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective upped by UBS Group from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday. Bank of America lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.07 and a 200 day moving average of $55.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.67%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % 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 the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 57.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $60,979,000 after acquiring an additional 38,000 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 36,707 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 188,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.