Cisco Systems (CSCO) Raised to “Buy” at Bank of America

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $46.00 target price on the network equipment provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $38.99. Bank of America’s target price suggests a potential upside of 16.37% from the stock’s current price. The analysts noted that the move was a valuation call.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CSCO. Oppenheimer reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Vetr cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $35.78 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, November 17th. Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, November 17th. Deutsche Bank reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, November 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $37.66.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) traded up $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.53. 24,470,400 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,350,000. Cisco Systems has a one year low of $29.80 and a one year high of $39.88. The firm has a market cap of $198,130.00, a PE ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.81.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 15th. The network equipment provider reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.26% and a return on equity of 16.64%. The company had revenue of $12.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, insider John T. Chambers sold 250,000 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.50, for a total transaction of $9,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 712,736 shares in the company, valued at $26,014,864. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Rebecca Jacoby sold 75,021 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.42, for a total transaction of $2,882,306.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 257,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,892,227.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 348,643 shares of company stock valued at $12,892,271. Insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barnett & Company Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1,511.5% in the second quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 3,223 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 3,023 shares during the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 36.1% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Mountain Capital Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth approximately $104,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 141.3% in the second quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,620 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.7% in the second quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,606 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.55% of the company’s stock.

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About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc designs and sells a range of products, provides services and delivers integrated solutions to develop and connect networks around the world. The Company operates through three geographic segments: Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific, Japan and China (APJC).