Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded by BNP Paribas to “Outperform” Rating

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. BNP Paribas currently has $72.00 price objective on the network equipment provider’s stock.

CSCO has been the subject of several other reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Barclays raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.72.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $59.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $236.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $62.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.23.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 68.67%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.07, for a total value of $1,211,596.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 213,834 shares in the company, valued at $12,203,506.38. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares in the company, valued at $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock worth $20,349,721 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 599 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. 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.