Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Key Points

• Barclays has increased its target price for Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.97% based on the stock's previous close.
• Multiple analysts have issued varying target prices for Cisco, with Morgan Stanley targeting $70.00 and JPMorgan Chase raising it to $78.00, reflecting overall positive sentiment toward the stock's performance.
• Cisco reported a 7.6% year-over-year increase in revenue for the last quarter, with earnings per share of $0.99, exceeding analyst expectations by $0.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Barclays from $66.00 to $71.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the network equipment provider's stock. Barclays's price target points to a potential upside of 0.97% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.10.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $70.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $45.04 and a 52-week high of $72.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $278.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.96 and a beta of 0.91. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $67.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.21.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total transaction of $154,072.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 177,027 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. This trade represents a 1.34% 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, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total value of $1,027,222.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock worth $6,271,054. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its position in Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by 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.

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