Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Given New $96.00 Price Target at CICC Research

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target raised by CICC Research from $84.00 to $96.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

CSCO has been the subject of several other reports. Zacks Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $71.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.19.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO stock opened at $76.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.07. Cisco Systems has a 52 week low of $52.11 and a 52 week high of $88.18. The stock has a market cap of $303.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.96.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This is an increase from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.65%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 281,860 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total value of $22,083,731.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 820,887 shares in the company, valued at $64,316,496.45. This trade represents a 25.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 9,801 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.38, for a total transaction of $748,600.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 33,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,525.88. This represents a 22.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 507,122 shares of company stock valued at $39,545,816. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSCO. Smithfield Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 33,666 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,596,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 12,528 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $965,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 24,146 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,860,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 15,042 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,159,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Finally, Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,407 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $417,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

More Cisco Systems News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco unveiled the Silicon One G300 switching chip designed for large AI cluster buildouts, positioning the company to compete in a multi?hundred?billion dollar AI infrastructure market — a clear long?term growth catalyst. Silicon One G300 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat both EPS and revenue expectations and management highlighted strong AI/customer orders (notably ~$2.1B of AI infrastructure orders), supporting revenue momentum and the firm’s raised FY guidance. That underpins upside if Cisco converts AI demand into sustained margin expansion. Zacks coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple sell?side firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (examples: CICC raised its target to $96; UBS, Citi, BNP/Exane and others increased targets), which can support further upside via analyst-driven flows and ETF reweighting. CICC price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Free cash flow fell year?over?year but remains positive with healthy margins; analysts note strong FCF long term despite higher capex for AI initiatives — this reduces downside risk but flags near?term investment drag. TalkMarkets FCF piece
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and other bullish pieces argue for large long?term upside (price?target extrapolations to $150–$182), but these are speculative scenarios that rely on sustained AI share gains and margin recovery. MarketBeat long-term thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors punished Cisco after management disclosed gross?margin pressure driven by a global memory shortage and higher component costs; that margin miss triggered a sharp selloff and created near?term volatility risk for CSCO. CNBC margin story
• Negative Sentiment: Despite upbeat revenue/guidance, some analysts and market commentary viewed Cisco’s margin outlook and guidance as mixed, prompting sector weakness and headline risk that could keep short?term selling pressure elevated. MarketWatch on market impact
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest data in the feed is inconsistent/zero and appears not to be a meaningful new factor for intraday moves. (Days?to?cover figures show no material change.)

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.