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

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $56.42.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Barclays boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Melius Research reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, January 8th.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.4 %

CSCO opened at $49.77 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company has a market cap of $201.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $45.56 and a one year high of $58.19.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was down 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 3rd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at $9,579,865.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,906,050. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 over the last three months. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the second quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 13,401 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $693,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the third quarter. Strong Tower Advisory Services now owns 14,831 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.9% in the third quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 20,996 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.4% in the third quarter. Cassia Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,950 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the third quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 24,693 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during 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.