Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Cisco Systems from $120 to $130 and kept an overweight rating, implying about 6.7% upside from the current share price.
• Cisco recently posted better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $1.06 versus $1.03 expected and revenue of $15.84 billion, up 12% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a MarketBeat average price target of $120.64, while institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of shares.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $130.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the network equipment provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target points to a potential upside of 6.71% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $120.64.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $121.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.81. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $63.93 and a fifty-two week high of $130.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $101.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.26. The company has a market cap of $480.19 billion, a PE ratio of 39.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The network equipment provider reported $1.06 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $15.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The business's revenue 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. Analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 637,085 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $76,469,312.55. This trade represents a 3.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 7,169 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.28, for a total transaction of $840,780.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 246,737 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,937,315.36. The trade was a 2.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 51,636 shares of company stock valued at $5,698,459 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 398,943,293 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $30,730,602,000 after purchasing an additional 4,049,893 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 195,521,161 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $15,060,995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057,962 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 75,326,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,802,382,000 after purchasing an additional 206,352 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 59,836,782 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $4,609,227,000 after purchasing an additional 6,224,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $4,473,272,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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