Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $62.00 to $68.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 18.20% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CSCO. Barclays lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of 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 research note on Monday, November 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.28.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $57.53 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $57.44 and its 200 day moving average is $51.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.13 billion, a PE ratio of 24.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The company’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $3,345,228.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at $12,596,059. This trade represents a 20.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

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

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.