Rosenblatt Securities Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target boosted by investment analysts at Rosenblatt Securities from $63.00 to $74.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Rosenblatt Securities’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 16.32% from the company’s previous close.

CSCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.0%

CSCO stock opened at $63.62 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $44.50 and a twelve month high of $66.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.66.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has approved a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total transaction of $760,080.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 200,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. The trade was a 5.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 11,952 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $708,000 after acquiring an additional 758 shares in the last quarter. Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at about $209,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 17,357 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. BluePath Capital Management LLC now owns 22,449 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,319,000 after buying an additional 2,636 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.