Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target boosted by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.74% from the company’s previous close.

CSCO has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective 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, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $63.62 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The stock has a market cap of $253.10 billion, a PE ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $58.75 and its 200-day moving average is $59.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to reacquire up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This trade represents a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. The trade was a 1.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 23.3% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,084,181 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,905,000 after buying an additional 204,527 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 120.6% during the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 2,269,541 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $140,053,000 after buying an additional 1,240,827 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.2% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 10,456 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.9% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 484,779 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,916,000 after buying an additional 35,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the first quarter valued at about $664,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.