Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $71.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target hoisted by Citigroup from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.84 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.36. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the business’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 transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pflug Koory LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.