Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Issues Q4 2023 Earnings Guidance

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Rating) issued an update on its fourth quarter 2023 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.05-$1.07 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.04. The company issued revenue guidance of $14.94 billion-$15.20 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $14.96 billion. Cisco Systems also updated its FY 2023 guidance to $3.80-$3.82 EPS.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.07. 11,014,034 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,430,432. The company has a market cap of $205.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.39. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $38.60 and a twelve month high of $52.56.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 17th. The network equipment provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $14.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 6th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 5th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is 56.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $51.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Tigress Financial restated a buy rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $56.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.50, for a total value of $103,887.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 179,378 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,699,833. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.50, for a total value of $103,887.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 179,378 shares in the company, valued at $8,699,833. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prat Bhatt sold 608 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.74, for a total transaction of $29,633.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 50,162 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,444,895.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,654 shares of company stock valued at $813,946 over the last ninety days. 0.02% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 112,307.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 59,519,500 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,835,509,000 after acquiring an additional 59,466,550 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,028,781,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 61,788,267 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,943,593,000 after acquiring an additional 9,160,347 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 184,879,450 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,664,544,000 after acquiring an additional 4,061,022 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 6.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 53,356,141 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,975,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,087,294 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.10% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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Cisco Systems, Inc engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of Internet Protocol-based networking products and services related to the communications and information technology industry. The firm operates through the following geographical segments: the Americas, EMEA, and APJC. Its products include the following categories: Switches, Routers, Wireless, Network Management Interfaces and Modules, Optical Networking, Access Points, Outdoor and Industrial Access Points, Next-Generation Firewalls, Advanced Malware Protection, VPN Security Clients, Email, and Web Security.