Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives $60.28 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.28.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CSCO shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.61 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $58.02 and a 200-day moving average of $52.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $60.23. The firm has a market cap of $237.41 billion, a PE ratio of 25.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total transaction of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total transaction of $291,542.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 51,931 shares in the company, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lantz Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 60,993 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,898,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 26.0% during the second quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 7,077 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 16,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 2,822 shares during the period. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 4,380 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $208,000 after purchasing an additional 225 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.