Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.63.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. The trade was 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 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after acquiring an additional 52,711 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,067 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.1% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 89,637 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after purchasing an additional 8,967 shares during the period. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the third quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 126,334 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,724,000 after purchasing an additional 3,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lewis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.2% in the third quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of CSCO opened at $63.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.63 and its 200 day moving average is $57.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted 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 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. 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. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

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.