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

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target lifted by Barclays from $49.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. New Street Research raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $57.46 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $229.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $59.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid 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 presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the firm’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 value of $170,166.44. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. This trade represents a 6.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,924 shares of company stock worth $1,798,131. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.