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Morgan Stanley Boosts Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $70.00

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Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) had its price target increased by Morgan Stanley from $67.00 to $70.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the network equipment provider's stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CSCO. New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.35.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on CSCO

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.4%

CSCO traded down $0.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $68.05. The stock had a trading volume of 16,138,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,303,674. The stock's 50 day moving average is $65.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $269.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 0.90. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $44.50 and a one year high of $69.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.05 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.48% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company's revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Cisco Systems's payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 36,937 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,553.59. This trade represents a 2.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,407 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.01, for a total value of $154,072.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 177,027 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,331,498.27. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the first quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 892,064 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $55,049,000 after purchasing an additional 6,501 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 76.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 16,947 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 7,338 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,037,909 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $249,180,000 after acquiring an additional 904,548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 44.6% during the 4th quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 193,478 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $11,454,000 after acquiring an additional 59,680 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

About Cisco Systems

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

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