Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Reaches New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.49 and last traded at $62.36, with a volume of 7932315 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CSCO. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business's 50 day moving average is $59.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.82. The company has a market cap of $247.95 billion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently 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.