Citigroup Lowers Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $68.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by equities researchers at Citigroup from $73.00 to $68.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the network equipment provider's stock. Citigroup's price target indicates a potential upside of 22.03% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 report on Tuesday, December 17th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $55.73. The stock had a trading volume of 15,874,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,149,900. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The business's 50 day moving average is $60.82 and its 200 day moving average is $59.06. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $132,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 7,338 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 18,718,195 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,107,930,000 after purchasing an additional 216,632 shares in the last quarter. 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.