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

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

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.63.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $63.96 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $66.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.47 and a 200-day moving average of $57.20. The company has a market capitalization of $254.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its 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 return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,848 shares of company stock valued at $4,767,206. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 77,216,513 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,571,218,000 after buying an additional 13,285,052 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $560,722,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $413,491,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 327.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 6,819,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $362,907,000 after buying an additional 5,223,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.