Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Raised to Buy at Bank of America

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $60.00 target price on the network equipment provider's stock, up from their previous target price of $55.00. Bank of America's target price indicates a potential upside of 24.38% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Melius Research reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $52.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $56.03.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $48.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 20,300,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,725,441. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $49.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $45.56 and a 1 year high of $58.19. The stock has a market cap of $195.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.67, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The network equipment provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.01% and a net margin of 23.49%. The business had revenue of $12.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 58,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,906,050. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 3,002 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $150,130.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 191,559 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,579,865.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,497 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $124,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 58,121 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,906,050. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,441 shares of company stock worth $972,080 in the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,966 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 55,083 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 4,712 shares during the period. Benin Management CORP boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 37,812 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,887,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 44,204 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the period. Finally, Chemistry Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 1st quarter valued at about $308,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.