Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price shot up 1.8% during mid-day 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 $74.45. 21,657,968 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 5% from the average session volume of 20,686,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.11.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CSCO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $78.00 price target on the stock. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, August 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 30,557 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.63, for a total transaction of $2,036,012.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 639,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,576,570. The trade was a 4.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction 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. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 82,965 shares of company stock worth $5,559,996. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its position in Cisco Systems by 531.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. raised its position in Cisco Systems by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 96.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.82 and its 200 day moving average is $66.34. The stock has a market cap of $293.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.00.

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

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd were given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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.