Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Cisco Systems has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 24 analysts, with an average 12-month price target of $74.53.
• Institutional investors own 73.33% of Cisco's stock, with significant recent increases in holdings reported by various investment firms during the second quarter.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.99, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced a dividend of $0.41 per share set to be paid on October 22nd.

Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.5263.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total transaction of $571,902.04. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 119,095 shares of company stock worth $7,841,167. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bare Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 89.4% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Brown Shipley& Co Ltd acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $69.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $273.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $47.85 and a twelve month high of $72.55. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $68.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.02%. Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.60%.

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.

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