Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius

Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Melius currently has $73.00 price target on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $66.00.

CSCO has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.95.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $58.77 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $234.07 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $60.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 68.67%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,881 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.73, for a total value of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 51,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,101,838.63. This trade represents a 8.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $56,000. Institutional investors 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.