Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.63.

A number of analysts have commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays reiterated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 1.4 %

Cisco Systems stock opened at $60.50 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a market cap of $240.69 billion, a PE ratio of 26.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $61.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.70.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares in the company, valued at $11,604,868.80. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% in the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other 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.