Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives $56.03 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-one analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $56.03.

A number of research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $48.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.07 and a 200 day moving average of $50.25. The firm has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.69, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $45.56 and a 1 year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems 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 transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems 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 transaction of $150,130.02. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 318,004 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,204,000 after buying an additional 2,167 shares during the last quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.9% during the first quarter. Cohen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 49,611 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 3,223 shares during the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the first quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 127,170 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,347,000 after buying an additional 2,610 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,941,000. Finally, FCG Investment Co raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 126.4% during the first quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 9,884 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 5,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.