Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy

Bank of America upgraded shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $60.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $55.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an equal weight rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a neutral rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a hold rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued an overweight rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $48.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market capitalization of $194.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $45.56 and a twelve month high of $58.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.29.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 23.49% and a return on equity of 33.01%. The firm had revenue of $12.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors 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 3.33%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 13,942 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $697,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 328,491 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,424,550. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 1,666.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 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.