Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares were up 1.5% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $106.96 and last traded at $106.50. Approximately 13,282,069 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 22,056,041 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.89.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CSCO shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.52.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market cap of $419.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.99.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.050-5.110 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.320-1.340 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $723,495.11. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,638,447.48. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total value of $34,376.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,065,688.98. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 44,869 shares of company stock worth $5,005,620 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,129,647,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,892,379,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,714,574,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,997,004,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 207,106,569 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,278,492,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that develops networking, cybersecurity, collaboration and observability solutions for businesses, government organizations and service providers. Its offerings include routers, switches, wireless networking equipment, data-center infrastructure, security software and services, as well as technologies that support cloud and hybrid IT environments.

The company also provides collaboration tools through its Webex portfolio, cloud-managed networking through Cisco Meraki and security and observability capabilities that include technologies from Splunk, which Cisco acquired in 2024.