Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Rating Upgraded by Melius Research

Melius Research upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CSCO. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $49.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.95.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $58.77 on Monday. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $60.23. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $234.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 4.37 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.78 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,001,901.86. This represents a 19.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 586 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.69, for a total transaction of $34,392.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,979,515.23. This trade represents a 1.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Lantz Financial LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 60,993 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,898,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3,269.4% during the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 150,172 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 145,715 shares in the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Insight Inv LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.1% during the second quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 40,167 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.