Rosenblatt Securities Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) had its price objective cut by Rosenblatt Securities from $80.00 to $63.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network equipment provider's stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Melius Research raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, March 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded up $0.80 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.43. 8,134,230 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,137,087. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $224.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mainstream Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 10,813 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,003,000 after buying an additional 7,338 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,107,930,000 after buying an additional 216,632 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

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.