Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $85.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Key Points

• Bank of America has raised its target price for Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $85.00, reflecting a potential upside of 20.88% from the current price, while maintaining a "buy" rating for the stock.
• The stock of Cisco Systems has received a range of ratings from various brokerages, with eighteen analysts
• Insider transactions include the sale of nearly 10,000 shares by executive Jeetendra I. Patel, signifying a 3.73% decrease in their ownership, as well as recent significant activity by various hedge funds increasing their stakes in Cisco.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) had its price target boosted by Bank of America from $76.00 to $85.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the network equipment provider's stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Evercore ISI reissued an "in-line" rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $73.45.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.5%

CSCO stock traded down $3.10 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $66.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 40,854,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,656,640. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $67.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.28. The company has a market capitalization of $262.15 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $47.85 and a 12 month high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. Cisco Systems's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 29,784 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.61, for a total transaction of $1,924,344.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 688,409 shares in the company, valued at $44,478,105.49. The trade was a 4.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 4,185 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.51, for a total transaction of $265,789.35. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 38,103 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,419,921.53. This represents a 9.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,731 shares of company stock valued at $5,021,519 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bare Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.