Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Shares Climb 3.2% – Time to Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price rose 3.2% on Friday. The stock traded as high as $112.23 and last traded at $112.20. 16,418,876 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 22,599,779 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.76.

Key Cisco Systems News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research upgraded Cisco Systems from “hold” to “strong buy,” providing a notable near-term sentiment boost. Investors Heavily Search Cisco Systems
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco is scheduled to distribute approximately $1.66 billion in dividends on October 21. The payout reinforces the company’s shareholder-return appeal and may support demand for the stock. Cisco Dividend Payouts
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s AI infrastructure momentum remains a key catalyst: product orders increased 35% year over year in fiscal fourth-quarter 2026, while AI infrastructure orders reportedly exceeded Wall Street expectations. The company also announced a sovereign AI infrastructure partnership with Bell Canada, potentially expanding its networking, security and observability products in regulated markets. Bell Cisco Sovereign AI Pact
• Positive Sentiment: The industrial-control-system security market is projected to grow at a 16.5% annual rate through 2031, creating a favorable backdrop for Cisco’s cybersecurity business. Industrial Control System Security Market Forecast
• Neutral Sentiment: Bernstein initiated coverage with a “market perform” rating, suggesting balanced expectations despite Cisco’s AI opportunity. Bernstein Cisco Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler lowered its price target to $125, indicating reduced upside expectations. Management’s cautious fiscal 2027 AI revenue outlook and the fact that AI represented only about 6% of fiscal 2026 revenue also highlight execution and valuation risks. Piper Sandler Cisco Price Target

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on CSCO. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. HSBC downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.52.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 3.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $442.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.40.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.050-5.110 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.320-1.340 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $723,495.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,116 shares in the company, valued at $18,638,447.48. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,628 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.54, for a total value of $2,412,387.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 602,710 shares in the company, valued at $67,226,273.40. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 44,869 shares of company stock worth $5,005,620. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at $42,129,647,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8,718.3% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 51,952,421 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $400,190,000 after buying an additional 51,363,281 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,892,379,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,714,574,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth $1,997,004,000. 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 develops networking, cybersecurity, collaboration, observability and data center solutions. Its products and services help businesses, governments, educational institutions and other organizations connect users and devices, manage infrastructure, protect digital environments and support cloud-based operations.

Cisco’s portfolio includes routers and switches, wireless networking equipment, network management software, firewalls, identity and access tools, endpoint security products, collaboration applications and observability platforms.