Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.94.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $59.29 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $236.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $59.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $55.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.39.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total value of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,501,957.20. This trade represents a 0.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 339,479 shares of company stock worth $19,490,991. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.