Morgan Stanley Raises Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $77.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price hoisted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report issued on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.34% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target for the company. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.89.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $67.94 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.88. The firm has a market cap of $268.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.97. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $52.11 and a 12-month high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.06%. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $185,041.44. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 157,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,701,086.72. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.78, for a total transaction of $116,464.32. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 158,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,551,841.02. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,996 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Postrock Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 4.5% in the second quarter. Postrock Partners LLC now owns 3,480 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.4% in the second quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,379 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,871,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the third quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 48,456 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $3,315,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the second quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 24,534 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,702,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,694 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,436,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.