Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price raised by analysts at Bank of America from $60.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 23.88% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CSCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. New Street Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Citigroup raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $62.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.32.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $58.12. 11,931,188 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,005,400. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $53.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.64. The firm has a market cap of $231.94 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a PEG ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 0.83. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $44.50 and a 52 week high of $59.38. 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 (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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 net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 27.83%. 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 company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 683,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $170,166.44. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 47,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,376,085.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 27,143 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.45, for a total transaction of $1,342,221.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 683,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,794,278.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 70,529 shares of company stock valued at $3,509,049 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 226.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 18,339 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,071,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $32,482,000 after purchasing an additional 308,300 shares in the last quarter. Councilmark Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,200,000. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd raised 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 worth $8,895,000 after buying an additional 8,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.