Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.53.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Melius lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bank of America raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $55.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 15th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 636 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

CSCO opened at $48.32 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 48.63%.

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.