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

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price hoisted by Piper Sandler from $57.00 to $72.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.54. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. 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 earnings per share 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, analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. 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 Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total value of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during 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 period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.