Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $56.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective upped by Barclays from $49.00 to $56.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on CSCO. HSBC raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $57.39. The stock had a trading volume of 16,882,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,089,469. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.00 and its 200-day moving average is $49.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.62%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This represents a 6.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $416,229.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 135,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,821,929.52. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aviso Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 11,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.