Piper Sandler Reaffirms Neutral Rating for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by analysts at Piper Sandler in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $112.00 price target on the network equipment provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $125.00. Piper Sandler‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.11% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered Cisco Systems from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their price objective on Cisco Systems from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.64.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of CSCO stock traded down $6.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $95.64. 28,551,419 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,473,690. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $377.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93. Cisco Systems has a 12-month low of $72.80 and a 12-month high of $130.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $18.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.12 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 33.06% and a net margin of 22.34%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. Cisco Systems has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 1.340-1.360 EPS and its FY 2027 guidance at 5.470-5.530 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 4.48 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya Subaiya sold 312 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total transaction of $34,376.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,065,688.98. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 680 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total value of $74,922.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 163,337 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,996,470.66. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 6,824 shares of company stock valued at $759,392. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,129,647,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 207,106,569 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $25,278,492,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512,872 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth approximately $5,892,379,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 43,450,141 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,103,654,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,714,574,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

Here are a few of the latest headlines about CSCO:

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco reported revenue of $18.5 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.40, beating estimates. It raised fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $74.8–$75.8 billion and EPS guidance to $5.47–$5.53, and lifted its AI revenue target to $9 billion. Strong AI-infrastructure and networking demand underpin the outlook. Reuters: Cisco raises annual revenue forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Management characterized the sequential decline in its second-quarter revenue outlook as seasonal rather than a sign of weakening demand, and emphasized the company’s profitability. Cisco CEO comments on guidance and profitability
• Negative Sentiment: Investors also focused on a 2.5-percentage-point decline in non-GAAP gross margin. A richer mix of AI networking hardware and higher memory costs are weighing on margins, tempering the earnings and guidance beats. Cisco shares and AI networking margin pressure

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc. develops networking, cybersecurity, collaboration and observability technologies for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its products include routers, switches, wireless systems and data center infrastructure, along with security software and services that help organizations connect and protect their networks. The company also provides collaboration tools through its Webex platform and observability capabilities through its software offerings, including technology from Splunk, which Cisco acquired in 2024.