StockNews.com Downgrades Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to Buy

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on CSCO. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.1 %

CSCO stock opened at $63.98 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.65 and a 200-day moving average of $56.15.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $1,283,626.89. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. The trade was a 5.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares in the company, valued at $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 193,489,477 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,297,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,241,682 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 95,630,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,075,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262,017 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 82,720,255 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,402,239,000 after buying an additional 1,677,383 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 20.8% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,297,905,000. 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.