Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius

Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $73.00 price objective on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $66.00.

CSCO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.28.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock opened at $59.20 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $58.51 and a 200-day moving average of $52.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $235.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $44.50 and a 12 month high of $60.23.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aviso Wealth Management lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aviso Wealth Management now owns 7,615 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Waypoint Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 5,249 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.6% during the third quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 11,372 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $605,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.8% in the third quarter. Meridian Financial Partners LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 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.