Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $60.00 price target on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $55.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an overweight rating and a $58.00 target price on the stock. Melius downgraded Cisco Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $48.24 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $195.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $49.22 and its 200-day moving average is $50.37. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $45.56 and a 52-week high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,835,509,000 after buying an additional 59,466,550 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $2,528,939,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 45,217,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,397,000 after purchasing an additional 11,552,694 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,943,593,000 after purchasing an additional 9,160,347 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 83.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $752,554,000 after purchasing an additional 6,621,125 shares during the period. 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.