Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives $59.94 Average PT from Analysts

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.94.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $59.21 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $235.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.42 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $55.83 and its 200-day moving average is $50.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 58,188 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $3,345,228.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 219,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,596,059. This represents a 20.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 339,479 shares of company stock valued at $19,490,991 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,931,461 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,402,432,000 after purchasing an additional 5,885,879 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 327.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,223,800 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 26,409,843 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,254,739,000 after acquiring an additional 4,843,146 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 5,231.5% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 4,935,107 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $262,646,000 after purchasing an additional 4,842,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 79.6% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 8,971,494 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $477,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,975,028 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.