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

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $72.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CSCO. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.87 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.54. The company has a market capitalization 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. 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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pflug Koory LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.