Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded to “Buy” by Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $60.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $55.00.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CSCO. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday. They set a neutral rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $48.24 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $49.22 and its 200 day moving average is $50.37. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $45.56 and a 12 month high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $697,100.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock valued at $972,080 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% in 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 shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 41.9% in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.