Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $96.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective lifted by CICC Research from $84.00 to $96.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CSCO. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.19.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $76.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $52.11 and a 52-week high of $88.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $73.14. The firm has a market cap of $303.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.54%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 10,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $836,860.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 146,368 shares in the company, valued at $11,289,363.84. This trade represents a 6.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 116,734 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.30, for a total transaction of $9,023,538.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 704,153 shares in the company, valued at $54,431,026.90. This trade represents a 14.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 225,227 shares of company stock worth $17,459,356. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 53,085 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,089,000 after acquiring an additional 3,404 shares during the period. Security National Bank of Sioux City Iowa IA bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Burton Enright Welch bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth about $497,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 38,905 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,997,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cisco Systems News Summary

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.)

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.