Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $60.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on CSCO. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup upgraded Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $52.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO traded down $0.53 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $57.39. The stock had a trading volume of 16,882,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,089,469. The firm has a market cap of $229.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 4.90 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $54.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.38.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.62% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.67%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 3,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.36, for a total transaction of $170,166.44. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,376,085.52. The trade was a 6.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.33, for a total transaction of $416,229.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 135,544 shares in the company, valued at $6,821,929.52. This trade represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,924 shares of company stock valued at $1,798,131. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 226.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 26,423 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 18,339 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth approximately $46,071,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 90.0% during the first quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 650,818 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $32,482,000 after purchasing an additional 308,300 shares during the period. Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth approximately $2,200,000. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 4.8% in the first quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 178,218 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,895,000 after acquiring an additional 8,210 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.