StockNews.com Upgrades Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CSCO. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an overweight rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They set a neutral rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a neutral rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $55.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $47.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $190.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $48.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.77. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $45.56 and a 1-year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 48.63%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.9% during the third quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 49,353 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,653,000 after buying an additional 2,729 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 107,101 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,758,000 after acquiring an additional 7,656 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 9.7% during the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,754 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,514,000 after purchasing an additional 4,148 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 7,095,871 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $381,474,000 after purchasing an additional 185,349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 52,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,847,000 after buying an additional 5,141 shares during the period. 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.