Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.03.

Several research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 target price for the company.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $47.92 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.18 and its 200-day moving average is $50.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $45.56 and a 52 week high of $58.19. The firm has a market cap of $194.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,835,509,000 after acquiring an additional 59,466,550 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,528,939,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 45,217,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,397,000 after acquiring an additional 11,552,694 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,943,593,000 after acquiring an additional 9,160,347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 83.6% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $752,554,000 after acquiring an additional 6,621,125 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.