Brokerages Set Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target at $62.72

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $66.53.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Melius Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $80.00 in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $64.87 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $60.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $258.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 21,230 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 213,834 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,203,506.38. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,239 shares of company stock valued at $2,166,612. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,159,099,000 after buying an additional 2,637,006 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 63.4% during the 4th quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,742,585 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $103,161,000 after acquiring an additional 676,049 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 208,090 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $12,319,000 after purchasing an additional 51,063 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 210.9% during the 4th quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 879,654 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $52,076,000 after purchasing an additional 596,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1,189.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,028,714 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $60,900,000 after purchasing an additional 948,914 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.