Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives $56.74 Average Price Target from Analysts

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.74.

CSCO has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. HSBC raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 16th.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.73 on Friday, reaching $55.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,235,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,590,850. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $57.06. The company has a market capitalization of $221.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $52.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.10.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $416,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 135,544 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,821,929.52. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $416,229.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,544 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,821,929.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 70,317,061 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,340,764,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853,598 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 47,593,944 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,261,185,000 after buying an additional 1,530,468 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,254,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843,146 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter worth about $840,538,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 26.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 13,858,505 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $691,678,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906,357 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.