Brokerages Set Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target at $56.03

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $56.03.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, April 15th.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $48.32 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $45.56 and a 1 year high of $58.19. The stock has a market cap of $195.66 billion, a PE ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.07 and its 200-day moving average is $50.20. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,879,450 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $9,664,544,000 after acquiring an additional 4,061,022 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 73,439,747 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,672,445,000 after acquiring an additional 6,345,954 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,160,347 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $2,835,509,000 after acquiring an additional 59,466,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,102,221 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,069,815,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790,717 shares in 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.