Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $55.53.

Several analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last quarter. 0.02% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 48.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 71,385 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after purchasing an additional 23,194 shares during the last quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Roble Belko & Company Inc now owns 6,405 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 2,788 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the third quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 64,136 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,448,000 after buying an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth about $28,685,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,470,521 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $240,335,000 after buying an additional 49,700 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $48.32 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $45.56 and a 12-month high of $58.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 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.