Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded at William Blair

William Blair upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. KeyCorp began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $66.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business has a fifty day moving average of $67.98 and a 200 day moving average of $63.36. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $47.85 and a 1 year high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Postrock Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Postrock Partners LLC now owns 3,480 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,379 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,694 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Boyd Watterson Asset Management LLC OH now owns 10,445 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cordatus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 36,370 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,523,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.