Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $123.1429.

Several research firms have weighed in on CSCO. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Citic Securities boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $95.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, May 11th.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.6%

CSCO stock opened at $118.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $65.75 and a 1-year high of $130.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $109.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.29. The firm has a market cap of $468.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.63, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The network equipment provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.14% and a return on equity of 28.44%. The firm had revenue of $15.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Cisco Systems has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.160-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.270-4.290 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 6th. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is presently 54.55%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,586 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.31, for a total transaction of $772,603.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 177,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,790,030.13. The trade was a 3.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.61, for a total transaction of $316,438.21. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 180,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,730,312.97. The trade was a 1.50% 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 sold a total of 47,650 shares of company stock worth $5,668,823 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 198,549 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $13,905,000 after purchasing an additional 26,455 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 101.8% in the fourth quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107,306 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,266,000 after purchasing an additional 54,141 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 200,341 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $15,432,000 after purchasing an additional 64,144 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 4,311,098 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $332,084,000 after purchasing an additional 275,456 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,873,274 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $375,388,000 after purchasing an additional 151,395 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Cisco to $130 from $125 and reiterated an Overweight rating, signaling continued analyst confidence in upside from current levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage highlighted Cisco’s growing role in AI infrastructure, including Acacia/800G optics orders and broader demand tied to AI data center spending, which supports the long-term growth story. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Rafay Systems said it expanded its Elevate AI infrastructure ecosystem with growing relationships including Cisco, reinforcing Cisco’s visibility in the AI and cloud-native infrastructure market. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary noted Cisco has outperformed some competitors despite a weaker trading session, suggesting relative resilience rather than a major new catalyst. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several market-wrap and valuation pieces described Cisco as a hold or a value stock after its strong run, which may be tempering near-term enthusiasm even as fundamentals remain solid. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Shares were recently weaker than the broader market in the latest session, reflecting some profit-taking after the stock’s sharp rally. Article

About Cisco Systems

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.