Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Rating Increased to Buy at Rosenblatt Securities

Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has $80.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $66.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.84 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $66.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $59.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. The trade was a 8.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pflug Koory LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Pflug Koory LLC now owns 33,026 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fairhaven Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,581 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Maple Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,984 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.