Citigroup Raises Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $71.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $68.00 to $71.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.45% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.87 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.42. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $258.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results 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 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, 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 transaction of $291,542.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Campbell Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.