Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given "Buy" Rating at Rosenblatt Securities

Key Points

• Rosenblatt Securities has reiterated a buy rating for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) with a price target of $87.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.73% from the stock's previous close.
• Other analysts, including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, have also raised their price targets for Cisco, contributing to a general consensus of 16 buy ratings and 8 hold ratings.
• Recently, Cisco reported earnings of $0.99 per share for the quarter, beating estimates and showing a 7.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $14.67 billion.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by Rosenblatt Securities in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $87.00 price objective on the network equipment provider's stock. Rosenblatt Securities' price objective points to a potential upside of 31.42% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CSCO. New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. CICC Research began coverage on Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 research note on Monday, June 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 4.5%

Shares of CSCO traded down $3.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $66.20. 40,854,477 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,656,640. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $47.85 and a 12-month high of $72.55. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.33. 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 company has a market cap of $262.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.91.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 899 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $57,778.73. Following the sale, the insider owned 255,377 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,413,079.79. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 762 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $48,821.34. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 36,937 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,366,553.59. This represents a 2.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,731 shares of company stock worth $5,021,519 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,392,000 after acquiring an additional 24,562 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 14,746 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $873,000 after acquiring an additional 4,406 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 422,861 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $25,033,000 after acquiring an additional 25,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Square LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.