Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $80.00 price objective on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $66.00.

CSCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $60.07 and its 200 day moving average is $55.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. 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 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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 given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This represents a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 260 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.