Charles Robbins Sells 21,400 Shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Key Points

• Cisco CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,400 shares on May 22 at an average price of $120.03, totaling about $2.57 million. After the sale, he still held 637,085 shares, and the trade was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.
• Cisco reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates with $1.06 EPS on $15.84 billion in revenue, up 12% year over year. The company also issued upbeat guidance for Q4 2026 and FY 2026.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Cisco, with several firms raising price targets and maintaining buy ratings amid optimism around AI-driven networking demand. Cisco also recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, yielding about 1.4% annualized.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.03, for a total transaction of $2,568,642.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 637,085 shares in the company, valued at $76,469,312.55. This represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO traded up $1.34 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $119.67. 21,152,762 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,444,146. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.30 and a fifty-two week high of $120.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $471.67 billion, a PE ratio of 38.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.24.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The network equipment provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.03. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.14% and a return on equity of 28.44%. The business had revenue of $15.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.160-1.180 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.270-4.290 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, July 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 6th. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.55%.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its price target on Cisco to $135 from $114 and kept a buy rating, citing accelerating demand for AI-driven high-speed optical networking equipment. BofA raises Cisco, Ciena targets as AI optics boom accelerates
• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt also lifted its target on Cisco to $150 from $100 and reiterated a buy after the company’s strong quarterly results, reinforcing the bullish analyst view. Rosenblatt Raises its Price Target on Cisco Systems (CSCO)
• Positive Sentiment: Articles highlighted Cisco as a major winner in the AI networking trade, noting that the stock has surged sharply over the past month as investors rotate toward infrastructure names benefiting from AI buildout. Cisco Soars 32% in a Month, Arista Falls 10%, Broadcom Drifts: The AI Networking Trade Has a Clear Winner
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco and Qumulo announced an industry-first CloudBridge architecture designed to help enterprises extend file workloads into the cloud and avoid hardware bottlenecks, adding another AI/cloud infrastructure use case for Cisco’s networking portfolio. Qumulo and Cisco Deliver Industry-First CloudBridge Architecture...
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also pointed to Cisco’s strong earnings and AI-related order growth, suggesting the company is seeing real operating leverage from the AI infrastructure cycle. AI Buildout Fuels Record Results for These Companies
• Neutral Sentiment: Some momentum-focused articles simply framed Cisco as a top stock pick for traders, which supports the bullish narrative but does not add new fundamental information. Are You Looking for a Top Momentum Pick? Why Cisco Systems (CSCO) is a Great Choice
• Negative Sentiment: One article argued the Cisco trade may be getting crowded and fully priced, warning that some investors are now looking for cheaper AI networking alternatives like Nokia. Forget Cisco: Nokia Is the AI Networking Stock Nobody’s Watching

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,189,645 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $218,236,000 after purchasing an additional 205,043 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 198,549 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $13,905,000 after purchasing an additional 26,455 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 686,469 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $46,165,000 after purchasing an additional 56,057 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 213.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 20,497 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 13,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,490,482 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $238,818,000 after purchasing an additional 997,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citic Securities raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. DZ Bank raised Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. CICC Research increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Cisco Systems from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $87.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $119.09.

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.

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