Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. UBS Group now has a $88.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $74.00. Cisco Systems traded as high as $74.84 and last traded at $74.0390, with a volume of 1525672 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $73.11.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.50.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 428 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.25, for a total transaction of $29,211.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 30,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,746.75. This trade represents a 1.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $185,041.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 157,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,701,086.72. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 82,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,559,996. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 393,989,568 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,334,996,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039,714 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 194,695,250 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,507,956,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,872 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,252,395 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,864,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,816,825,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.0% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 48,531,251 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,367,098,000 after acquiring an additional 1,414,105 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 1.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $293.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.48.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd were paid a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.60%.

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.