Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $83.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $83.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CSCO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. New Street Research reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 28th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $78.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $66.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $67.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.36. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $47.85 and a 52-week high of $72.55. The company has a market cap of $262.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.91.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% 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, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. This trade represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,731 shares of company stock valued at $5,021,519 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,392,000 after buying an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,746 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $873,000 after buying an additional 4,406 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 422,861 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,033,000 after buying an additional 25,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.