Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by Citigroup from $64.00 to $68.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the network equipment provider's stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on CSCO. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $60.23. 23,800,968 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,184,370. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.91 and a 200-day moving average of $53.52. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.95. The company has a market cap of $239.88 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The business had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the firm'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 value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at about $242,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 40,995 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 5,543 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $475,000. Cowa LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cowa LLC now owns 9,700 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.8% during the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 702,429 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $33,372,000 after buying an additional 73,977 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

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.