Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at KeyCorp

KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently commented on CSCO. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.11.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $68.19 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $68.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.04 and its 200 day moving average is $60.95. The stock has a market cap of $270.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 4.06 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 174,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. The trade was a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,643 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.50, for a total transaction of $612,330.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 181,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,505,311. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the first quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $349,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Greenline Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 32,570 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 2,070 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. 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.