CICC Research Raises Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $96.00

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its target price increased by analysts at CICC Research from $84.00 to $96.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. CICC Research’s target price points to a potential upside of 24.92% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on CSCO. Citic Securities upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Melius Research upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.19.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $76.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $303.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.10. Cisco Systems has a twelve month low of $52.11 and a twelve month high of $88.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The business had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 9,801 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.38, for a total value of $748,600.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 33,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,522,525.88. This trade represents a 22.89% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 56,038 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.33, for a total value of $4,389,456.54. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 179,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,082,167.40. This trade represents a 23.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 507,122 shares of company stock valued at $39,545,816 over the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CSCO. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 420,336 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,163,000 after acquiring an additional 4,525 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 6.9% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth about $8,563,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 56,057 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 213.8% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 20,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,402,000 after buying an additional 13,966 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco unveiled the Silicon One G300 switching chip designed for large AI cluster buildouts, positioning the company to compete in a multi‑hundred‑billion dollar AI infrastructure market — a clear long‑term growth catalyst. Silicon One G300 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat both EPS and revenue expectations and management highlighted strong AI/customer orders (notably ~$2.1B of AI infrastructure orders), supporting revenue momentum and the firm’s raised FY guidance. That underpins upside if Cisco converts AI demand into sustained margin expansion. Zacks coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple sell‑side firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (examples: CICC raised its target to $96; UBS, Citi, BNP/Exane and others increased targets), which can support further upside via analyst-driven flows and ETF reweighting. CICC price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Free cash flow fell year‑over‑year but remains positive with healthy margins; analysts note strong FCF long term despite higher capex for AI initiatives — this reduces downside risk but flags near‑term investment drag. TalkMarkets FCF piece
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and other bullish pieces argue for large long‑term upside (price‑target extrapolations to $150–$182), but these are speculative scenarios that rely on sustained AI share gains and margin recovery. MarketBeat long-term thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors punished Cisco after management disclosed gross‑margin pressure driven by a global memory shortage and higher component costs; that margin miss triggered a sharp selloff and created near‑term volatility risk for CSCO. CNBC margin story
• Negative Sentiment: Despite upbeat revenue/guidance, some analysts and market commentary viewed Cisco’s margin outlook and guidance as mixed, prompting sector weakness and headline risk that could keep short‑term selling pressure elevated. MarketWatch on market impact
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data in the feed is inconsistent/zero and appears not to be a meaningful new factor for intraday moves. (Days‑to‑cover figures show no material change.)

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.