Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Cut to $70.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $73.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the network equipment provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective indicates a potential upside of 25.62% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on CSCO. Barclays reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $55.73. 15,874,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,149,900. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $60.69 and a 200 day moving average of $59.08. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $221.69 billion, a PE ratio of 24.33, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares in the company, valued at $2,693,013.45. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock valued at $4,275,553 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after acquiring an additional 13,285,052 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $413,491,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7,096.5% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,718,402 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $414,593,000 after purchasing an additional 6,625,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.