Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Up 1.2% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares rose 1.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $78.88 and last traded at $78.51. Approximately 17,483,094 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the average daily volume of 23,046,570 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.60.

Cisco Systems News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco launched a 10‑year “40 Communities” program to improve emergency connectivity, disaster response networks and local digital/cyber skills — a long‑term CSR/market‑development initiative that can lead to public‑sector contracts and steady demand for networking/security products. Cisco Community Push Puts 40 Communities Initiative In Investor Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Macro/sector commentary (Goldman) highlights AI, cybersecurity and infrastructure as winners — a thematic tailwind for Cisco’s routing, switching and security franchises as enterprise and cloud customers spend on AI‑ready networks. The AI Payoff Is the ‘Biggest Question’ for U.S. Investors, Says Goldman’s Snider
• Positive Sentiment: Technical commentary suggests Cisco could clear overhead resistance — if price momentum follows, that can draw momentum buyers and short‑covering. Blue‑Chip Tech Stock Could Topple Overhead Resistance
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data for March appear anomalous/zero — no meaningful short position to drive a short squeeze or large covering flows in the near term.
• Neutral Sentiment: Supplier/supply‑chain coverage (Jabil) and sector pieces underline stronger demand in AI/infrastructure, which indirectly supports Cisco but doesn’t alter Cisco’s near‑term fundamentals on its own. Jabil Quietly Manufactures an Accelerating Stock Price Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Note that Cisco’s recent price weakness has partly tracked the Nasdaq, indicating some index/market pressure rather than company‑specific deterioration. Price Decline Meets Nasdaq Composite Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: two executive VPs disclosed recent sales (Oliver Tuszik — 3,132 shares; Deborah L. Stahlkopf — 7,981 shares). Sales are modest relative to holdings but clustered insider sales can weigh on near‑term sentiment. SEC filing — Tuszik sale SEC filing — Stahlkopf sale
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation concern: some analysis flags Cisco as expensive on price‑to‑sales, which could cap upside for value‑focused investors despite growth in AI/networking demand. Cisco is Overvalued at 4.95X PS

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. President Capital lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Evercore upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $306.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.78.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 3,132 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total transaction of $249,745.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 188,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,040,000.62. The trade was a 1.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $134,410.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 156,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,076,329.51. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bare Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 531.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the third quarter worth $25,000. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Cisco Systems by 96.2% during the third quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

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.