Truist Financial Initiates Coverage on Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Research analysts at Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the network equipment provider’s stock. Truist Financial’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 21.46% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CSCO. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Erste Group Bank downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.76.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $77.39 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.01 and its 200 day moving average is $75.41. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $52.11 and a 52 week high of $88.18. The company has a market cap of $305.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.16, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.54, for a total transaction of $42,724.54. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 27,957 shares in the company, valued at $2,167,785.78. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total value of $134,410.08. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 156,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,076,329.51. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 46,431 shares of company stock valued at $3,574,820 over the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Smithfield Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 33,666 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,596,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 12,528 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 13,656 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 24,146 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,860,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 15,042 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that designs, manufactures and sells networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Its core business focuses on enabling enterprise and service-provider networks through products such as routers, switches, network security appliances and wireless systems. Over time Cisco has broadened its portfolio to emphasize software-defined networking, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and edge computing solutions that help organizations build and manage modern IT environments.

In addition to hardware, Cisco offers a growing range of software platforms and subscription services for network management, security, analytics and collaboration.