Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Buy

StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

CSCO has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.98 on Friday. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.22.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 69.87%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. American Trust grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. American Trust now owns 6,764 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 54,077 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,201,000 after buying an additional 7,464 shares during the period. WNY Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Finally, Perennial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $7,628,000. 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.