Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives $68.00 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.11.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 688,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,478,105.49. This represents a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,505,311. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,931 shares of company stock worth $4,671,930. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 8,422,911 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $519,778,000 after buying an additional 2,365,389 shares in the last quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 18,820 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,161,000 after buying an additional 1,273 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 298.3% during the 1st quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc now owns 709 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. Birchbrook Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Birchbrook Inc. now owns 2,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 108,752 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,711,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of CSCO opened at $65.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $260.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.87, a PEG ratio of 3.91 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $61.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.69.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.94%.

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.