Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. DZ Bank raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Cisco Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $63.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.75 and its 200 day moving average is $59.69.

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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total transaction of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC increased its position in Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the fourth quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.