Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Trading Up 1.8% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Cisco Systems' stock increased by 1.8% on Tuesday, reaching a last trading price of $68.66, despite a 28% decline in trading volume.
• Analysts have set a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $74.72, while several brokerages have issued various ratings including an "overweight" rating from KeyCorp with a price objective of $77.00.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.99, exceeding estimates, and set future earnings guidance of 0.970-0.990 EPS for Q1 2026.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.8% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $69.16 and last traded at $68.66. 15,129,646 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 20,963,170 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on CSCO. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. HSBC reissued a "hold" rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.72.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $68.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.95. The stock has a market cap of $271.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.06%. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 30,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.63, for a total transaction of $2,036,012.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 639,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,576,570. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 2,718 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $185,041.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 157,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,701,086.72. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,965 shares of company stock worth $5,559,996 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Postrock Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Postrock Partners LLC now owns 3,480 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.4% in the second quarter. Mount Vernon Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,379 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Wynn Capital LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the third quarter. Wynn Capital LLC now owns 48,456 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $3,315,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the second quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 24,534 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 20,694 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $1,436,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cisco Systems

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.

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