Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at Piper Sandler

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target hoisted by Piper Sandler from $57.00 to $72.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $63.84 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.89 and its 200-day moving average is $55.36. The company has a market cap of $254.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $44.50 and a 52-week high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. Equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.67%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares in the company, valued at $12,299,563.62. This represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total transaction of $449,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 37,239 shares of company stock worth $2,166,612. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 6,683,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $395,269,000 after buying an additional 382,804 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 81.8% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 4,331,911 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $256,449,000 after purchasing an additional 1,949,145 shares during the last quarter. Capital Square LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,311,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 2,048,300 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $121,259,000 after purchasing an additional 89,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.