Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at Bank of America

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target upped by Bank of America from $60.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CSCO. HSBC raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded down $0.61 on Thursday, hitting $57.31. The company had a trading volume of 14,090,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,077,955. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 6.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.2% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 469,518 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,988,000 after buying an additional 111,549 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 92.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,271 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5.6% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,439,329 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,041,000 after acquiring an additional 182,578 shares in the last quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rench Wealth Management Inc. now owns 74,674 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,974,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $310,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.