William Blair Has Positive View of Cisco Systems Q3 Earnings

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) - Investment analysts at William Blair boosted their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for Cisco Systems in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair analyst J. Ader now anticipates that the network equipment provider will earn $0.77 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.74. The consensus estimate for Cisco Systems' current full-year earnings is $3.04 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Cisco Systems' FY2027 earnings at $3.60 EPS.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued 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%.

CSCO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Cisco Systems from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $62.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $0.69 on Monday, reaching $63.98. 18,882,907 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,757,256. The company has a market cap of $254.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.87. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $44.50 and a 1 year high of $66.50.

Cisco Systems announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $15.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the network equipment provider to purchase up to 6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.62%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 3,042 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.19, for a total transaction of $180,055.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 207,798 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,299,563.62. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 31,983 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.41, for a total transaction of $2,060,025.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 736,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at $47,413,489.20. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,921 shares of company stock worth $4,298,667 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $798,000. HighVista Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,698,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,357 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $5,527,000 after buying an additional 10,813 shares during the period. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $502,000. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,658,417 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $88,261,000 after acquiring an additional 162,544 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.