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

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $60.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $55.00.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CSCO. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a hold rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Melius lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.3 %

CSCO opened at $47.79 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $193.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.26. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $45.56 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.14 and a 200-day moving average of $50.31.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 59,466,550 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,528,939,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 45,217,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,284,397,000 after buying an additional 11,552,694 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,943,593,000 after buying an additional 9,160,347 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 83.6% in the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 14,544,909 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $752,554,000 after acquiring an additional 6,621,125 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.