JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $70.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $73.00 to $70.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.54% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Melius raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Cisco Systems from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.58.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO opened at $55.76 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.05. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $44.50 and a 1-year high of $66.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $221.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.35, a P/E/G ratio of 4.16 and a beta of 0.86.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The network equipment provider reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.14). Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 26.08% and a net margin of 16.96%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the network equipment provider to buy up to 6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total value of $2,060,025.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 736,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,413,489.20. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 19,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $1,283,626.89. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 335,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,616,318.05. This represents a 5.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,547 shares of company stock worth $4,275,553 in the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. JDM Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 160.4% during the 4th quarter. JDM Financial Group LLC now owns 487 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.