Rosenblatt Securities Cuts Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $63.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Rosenblatt Securities from $80.00 to $63.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Rosenblatt Securities currently has a buy rating on the network equipment provider's stock.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $64.68.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Cisco Systems stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.71. The company had a trading volume of 16,493,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,228,446. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $66.50. The company has a market capitalization of $225.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $59.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.23.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a net margin of 16.96% and a return on equity of 26.08%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

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

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.62%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 11,808 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.37, for a total value of $760,080.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 200,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,294.67. This represents a 5.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.99, for a total value of $46,474.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 44,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,693,013.45. This trade represents a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisory Resource Group grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.9% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 97,718 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at about $798,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 4.5% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,188 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter valued at about $1,097,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 13.9% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 137,503 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $7,318,000 after purchasing an additional 16,749 shares during the last quarter. 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.