Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target Raised to $77.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective hoisted by HSBC from $74.00 to $77.00 in a report released on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Erste Group Bank raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. CICC Research upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. One research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.19.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $76.85 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.14. The stock has a market cap of $303.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Cisco Systems has a 12 month low of $52.11 and a 12 month high of $88.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The company had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.11 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 428 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.33, for a total transaction of $34,381.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 32,176 shares in the company, valued at $2,584,698.08. This represents a 1.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 116,734 shares of the firm’s 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 owned 704,153 shares in the company, valued at $54,431,026.90. This represents a 14.22% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,227 shares of company stock worth $17,459,356. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,473,272,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Cisco Systems by 413.3% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 22,393,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,553,645,000 after buying an additional 18,030,441 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 46.2% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,836,858 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,833,261,000 after buying an additional 12,904,969 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Cisco Systems by 110.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,406,442 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,259,369,000 after acquiring an additional 9,648,265 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 6,778.2% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,810,012 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $472,479,000 after acquiring an additional 6,711,004 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Cisco Systems

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.)

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.