Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Down 2.9% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price was down 2.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $91.00 and last traded at $91.5440. Approximately 26,784,885 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 21% from the average daily volume of 22,220,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.30.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore raised its price target to $110 and kept an “outperform” rating, giving an analyst-driven upside case that supports upside if Cisco continues to execute. Evercore raises CSCO price target
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco is expanding security capabilities via the planned acquisition of Astrix Security and by adding Qmulos to its SolutionsPlus program — moves that strengthen recurring-software/compliance revenue and deepen integrations (including with Splunk). These are clear strategic drivers for revenue mix improvement. Cisco to acquire Astrix Security Cisco security push with Astrix and Qmulos
• Positive Sentiment: Product innovation: coverage highlights Cisco’s Universal Quantum Switch as a potential long‑term differentiator for AI networking/security — a thematic positive for investors focused on future growth vectors. Universal Quantum Switch article
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst previews (Seeking Alpha, Zacks) point to an earnings beat setup and margin focus heading into the quarter — if Cisco delivers stronger margins/revenue guidance, the stock could recover. Q3 earnings preview Zacks earnings outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Long-term investor pieces revisit how a decade‑long hold in Cisco would have performed and Wall Street’s bullish consensus — useful context but unlikely to move price near-term. 10-year return piece Is it worth investing based on Wall Street views?
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: multiple reports note CSCO underperformed peers and is trading down despite broader market gains — suggests profit-taking/rotation and short-term selling pressure outweigh positive news. MarketWatch underperformance note Zacks notes CSCO dropped despite market gains

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Argus raised Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. CICC Research lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.29.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $361.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This is a positive change from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 58.95%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 2,179 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.74, for a total transaction of $169,395.46. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 28,807 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,239,456.18. This represents a 7.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 11,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $854,848.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 262,776 shares in the company, valued at $19,970,976. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 46,431 shares of company stock valued at $3,574,820 over the last three months. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 398,943,293 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $30,730,602,000 after buying an additional 4,049,893 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 195,521,161 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $15,060,995,000 after buying an additional 1,057,962 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 75,326,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $5,802,382,000 after buying an additional 206,352 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 59,836,782 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,609,227,000 after buying an additional 6,224,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $4,473,272,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.