Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Up 2% – Time to Buy?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s stock price was up 2% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $79.01 and last traded at $77.70. Approximately 22,320,398 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 6% from the average daily volume of 23,866,926 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.21.

Key Cisco Systems News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s “Secure AI Factory” deal highlights a push into sovereign and enterprise AI infrastructure, which could translate into higher-margin software and services revenue as customers deploy on-prem or regulated-AI stacks. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and retail attention is rising — Zacks and other coverage note Cisco as a focus for investors after its recent quarter (EPS and revenue beat), and some Wall Street commentary remains constructive, supporting short-term momentum. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader industry strength in networking — HPE reports networking is now 30% of revenue and more than half of profits — underscores strong market demand that benefits Cisco, though it also signals increasing competition and shifting dynamics. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s big share gains on AI networking demand validate market expansion but highlight competitive pressure; investors weigh Cisco’s scale and product breadth against fast-growing peers. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Coverage warning of margin risk and a shifting investment story: analysts point to trade-offs between growth initiatives (AI, software transitions) and near-term margin pressure, which could cap upside if execution slips. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data appears anomalous (zero shares reported), so there’s no clear short-squeeze signal; treat short-interest metrics with caution until data is clarified.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Evercore raised Cisco Systems from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.0%

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’s 50-day moving average price is $77.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The firm 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 firm posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a $0.42 dividend. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 19,545 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,485,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 671,095 shares in the company, valued at $51,003,220. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 10,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $836,860.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 146,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,289,363.84. This represents a 6.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,677 shares of company stock valued at $5,811,211. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the fourth quarter valued at $4,473,272,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8,718.3% in the 4th 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. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 413.3% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 22,393,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,553,645,000 after buying an additional 18,030,441 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 103.2% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,289,151 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,256,144,000 after acquiring an additional 14,874,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 46.2% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,836,858 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $2,833,261,000 after acquiring an additional 12,904,969 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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.