DZ Bank Upgrades Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to “Buy”

DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Melius Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $64.67 on Tuesday. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $257.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $60.55 and its 200-day moving average is $56.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $15.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total value of $34,392.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares in the company, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock valued at $4,298,667. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 41,168 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,437,000 after purchasing an additional 9,380 shares during the last quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $399,000. Michels Family Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $936,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $855,000. Finally, Westfuller Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $217,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.