Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.47.

Several equities analysts have commented on CSCO shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $47.51 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $191.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.85. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $44.95 and a 52 week high of $58.19. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $47.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $12.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.53 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.82% and a net margin of 21.88%. The business’s revenue was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 24th. Investors of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,619 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.34, for a total transaction of $118,745.46. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 176,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,250.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,619 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.34, for a total transaction of $118,745.46. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 176,384 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,250.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 26,331 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.10, for a total transaction of $1,213,859.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 725,363 shares in the company, valued at $33,439,234.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 41,106 shares of company stock valued at $1,908,923. Insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% in the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 636 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Morton Brown Family Wealth LLC now owns 704 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bourgeon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.