Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $66.00 Price Target at Barclays

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target increased by Barclays from $61.00 to $66.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $64.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.60. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.50 and a fifty-two week high of $66.50. The firm has a market cap of $255.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to repurchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.62%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Belmont Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at $561,000. Banque Transatlantique SA lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 31.0% during the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 51,328 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,927,000 after acquiring an additional 12,142 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.0% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,491,240 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $462,284,000 after purchasing an additional 863,284 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 31.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,418,603 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $330,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,296,897 shares during the period. Finally, Alexis Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 9,900.0% during the 1st quarter. Alexis Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the last quarter. 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.