Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Up 2.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares traded up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Friday after HSBC raised their price target on the stock from $74.00 to $77.00. HSBC currently has a hold rating on the stock. Cisco Systems traded as high as $77.30 and last traded at $76.85. 42,852,289 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 76% from the average session volume of 24,388,771 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.00.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Argus upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 281,860 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total transaction of $22,083,731.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 820,887 shares in the company, valued at $64,316,496.45. This trade represents a 25.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total value of $1,039,789.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,753,521.90. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 507,122 shares of company stock valued at $39,545,816 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More Cisco Systems News

Here are the key news stories impacting Cisco Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco unveiled the Silicon One G300 switching chip designed for large AI cluster buildouts, positioning the company to compete in a multi‑hundred‑billion dollar AI infrastructure market — a clear long‑term growth catalyst. Silicon One G300 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat both EPS and revenue expectations and management highlighted strong AI/customer orders (notably ~$2.1B of AI infrastructure orders), supporting revenue momentum and the firm’s raised FY guidance. That underpins upside if Cisco converts AI demand into sustained margin expansion. Zacks coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple sell‑side firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (examples: CICC raised its target to $96; UBS, Citi, BNP/Exane and others increased targets), which can support further upside via analyst-driven flows and ETF reweighting. CICC price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Free cash flow fell year‑over‑year but remains positive with healthy margins; analysts note strong FCF long term despite higher capex for AI initiatives — this reduces downside risk but flags near‑term investment drag. TalkMarkets FCF piece
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and other bullish pieces argue for large long‑term upside (price‑target extrapolations to $150–$182), but these are speculative scenarios that rely on sustained AI share gains and margin recovery. MarketBeat long-term thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors punished Cisco after management disclosed gross‑margin pressure driven by a global memory shortage and higher component costs; that margin miss triggered a sharp selloff and created near‑term volatility risk for CSCO. CNBC margin story
• Negative Sentiment: Despite upbeat revenue/guidance, some analysts and market commentary viewed Cisco’s margin outlook and guidance as mixed, prompting sector weakness and headline risk that could keep short‑term selling pressure elevated. MarketWatch on market impact
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data in the feed is inconsistent/zero and appears not to be a meaningful new factor for intraday moves. (Days‑to‑cover figures show no material change.)

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bare Financial Services Inc increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $77.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $303.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.65%.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.