Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Up 2.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price was up 2.2% during trading on Tuesday after Evercore ISI upgraded the stock from an in-line rating to an outperform rating. Evercore ISI now has a $100.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $80.00. Cisco Systems traded as high as $78.91 and last traded at $78.68. Approximately 17,570,979 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 18,634,693 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.01.

CSCO has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. President Capital lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.81.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 56,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.33, for a total value of $4,389,456.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 179,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,082,167.40. The trade was a 23.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 163,896 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.86, for a total transaction of $12,760,942.56. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 281,108 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,887,068.88. The trade was a 36.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 1,044,865 shares of company stock worth $81,397,635 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI upgraded CSCO from “in-line” to “outperform” and raised its price target to $100 (from $80), highlighting AI-related revenue potential and giving the stock meaningful upside vs. the current price. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets report analysts are lifting targets and ratings across the street — a coordinated re-rating that supports multiple buy-side catalysts and likely triggered short-term buying. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlights that upgrades reflect above?consensus profit and revenue outlooks and the view that Cisco is a large?cap bargain amid AI-driven networking demand. These analyst notes are driving revaluation momentum. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco launched the “Cisco 360” partner program aimed at accelerating AI deployments via partners (AI-ready data centers, secure workplaces, digital resilience) — a strategic move that supports recurring sales and partner-led customer expansion. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco published research showing strong enterprise investment in data privacy and governance for AI — this underscores tailwinds for networking/security spend but is a mid?to?longer term story. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Aggregator coverage notes that the consensus analyst rating sits around “Moderate Buy” — supportive but not unanimous, implying some analyst divergence remains. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Forbes published a bearish analysis arguing CSCO could be overvalued for some investors and even suggested a downside scenario to ~$54, which may temper conviction among risk?averse holders and add selling pressure for traders focused on valuation risk. Read More.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,392,000 after buying an additional 24,562 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 712 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 21.1% in the 2nd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,050 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 36,993 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,567,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 2.2%

The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $310.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.29% and a net margin of 18.38%.The business had revenue of $14.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.080-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.010-1.030 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Investors of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.65%.

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.