Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $63.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target raised by The Goldman Sachs Group from $56.00 to $63.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America boosted 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. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.36. The company has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. The trade was a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,527,000 after acquiring an additional 10,813 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,261,000 after acquiring an additional 162,544 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.