Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $70.00 at UBS Group

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price boosted by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.44% from the company’s current price.

CSCO has been the topic of several other research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.67.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $65.16 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $55.36. The company has a market cap of $259.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.86, a PEG ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.84. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $66.41.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 25.70%. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 171,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total value of $9,873,562.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 783,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,059,857.14. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 57.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 5,126 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,155,964 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $60,979,000 after buying an additional 38,000 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 9,029,594 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $480,555,000 after buying an additional 52,711 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 36,707 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 847 shares during the period. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.8% in the third quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 188,268 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,020,000 after acquiring an additional 1,553 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.