Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $60.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 15th. New Street Research raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.94.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $57.46 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $59.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $229.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 22,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $1,115,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 293,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,659,200. The trade was a 7.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total value of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 6.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,924 shares of company stock worth $1,798,131 in the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.