Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.74.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CSCO shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. New Street Research raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.4 %

CSCO opened at $58.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.91. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $58.30. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $53.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.27.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.83% and a net margin of 19.18%. The company had revenue of $13.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 62.99%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.92, for a total transaction of $64,965.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,501,957.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $31,319.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 46,017 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,258,974.53. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 222.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 661 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 116.6% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 617.7% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 890 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.