Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $66.65 and last traded at $66.17, with a volume of 9593177 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.84.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CSCO. New Street Research reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $63.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.11.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.7%

The firm has a market cap of $262.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a PEG ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced 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. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 26.48%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 66.94%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.97, for a total value of $637,205.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 257,162 shares in the company, valued at $16,450,653.14. This trade represents a 3.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 309,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,281,257.36. The trade was a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 97,335 shares of company stock valued at $6,271,054. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Tallon Kerry Patrick bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $603,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 12,161 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indie Asset Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.