Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.63.
CSCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on CSCO
Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.8 %
CSCO traded up $0.53 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.94. The stock had a trading volume of 21,153,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,042,023. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $254.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock's 50 day moving average is $61.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.
Cisco Systems Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.
Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.
Insider Activity at Cisco Systems
In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. The trade was a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,348 shares of company stock valued at $4,318,181. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $480,555,000 after purchasing an additional 52,711 shares in the last quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,067 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 396 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 89,637 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,771,000 after acquiring an additional 8,967 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 126,334 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,724,000 after acquiring an additional 3,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lewis Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 1,205 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.
About Cisco Systems
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Get Free ReportCisco 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.
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