Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Upgraded to Hold at William Blair

Key Points

• Analysts at William Blair have upgraded Cisco Systems to a "hold" rating, while other analysts have provided varying ratings from "overweight" to "buy" with price targets ranging from $69.00 to $87.00.
• Cisco reported quarterly earnings of $0.99 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.98, alongside a revenue of $14.67 billion, which is a 7.6% increase year-over-year.
• Insider selling activity includes significant transactions from both the SVP and CFO, with their recent sales indicating a decrease in their stock positions.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) was upgraded by William Blair to a "hold" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. HSBC restated a "hold" rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.3%

CSCO stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $66.76. 18,488,695 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,593,236. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $68.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cisco Systems has a 1 year low of $47.85 and a 1 year high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 15,678 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.52, for a total transaction of $1,027,222.56. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 309,543 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,281,257.36. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.53, for a total value of $952,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 131,676 shares in the company, valued at $8,365,376.28. This represents a 10.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,731 shares of company stock valued at $5,021,519 in the last ninety days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bare Financial Services Inc raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 531.0% in the second quarter. Bare Financial Services Inc now owns 366 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 89.4% during the second quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. now owns 409 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Navigoe LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.