Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Cut to "Buy" at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Wednesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,930,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,941,484. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.93, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock worth $4,767,206 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after buying an additional 3,241,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,677,383 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,571,218,000 after purchasing an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $3,297,905,000. 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.