Rosenblatt Securities Issues Positive Forecast for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target raised by Rosenblatt Securities from $63.00 to $74.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $67.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $64.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.60. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The stock has a market cap of $255.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.62%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 2,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total transaction of $125,345.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 191,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,604,868.80. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,635 shares of company stock valued at $931,901 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors 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.