Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $73.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $69.00 to $73.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. 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. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. 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. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a PE 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. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $60.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.54.

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 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%. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Cisco Systems declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after purchasing an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after buying an additional 1,262,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.