Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $81.16 and last traded at $80.7530, with a volume of 9541008 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.32.

Trending Headlines about Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI raised its price target on CSCO from $100 to $175 and kept an “outperform” rating — a very bullish revision that implies substantial upside and likely helped lift sentiment among institutional investors. Evercore price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Unusual options activity: investors bought ~89,631 call options (≈27% above typical daily call volume), signalling short-term bullish positioning and amplified demand for upside exposure. (No external link available)
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco presented at its second annual AI Summit (prepared remarks published), reiterating product roadmap and go-to-market momentum around AI networking and software — supporting the company’s argument for higher-growth margins from AI-driven workloads. AI Summit remarks transcript
• Positive Sentiment: Corporate/strategy news: Cisco is tying its AI networking push to renewable-powered data centers — a move that can appeal to customers prioritizing sustainability while positioning Cisco for AI infrastructure spending. AI + renewables story
• Neutral Sentiment: Media/analysis pieces: Several articles discuss whether CSCO is a buy after recent highs and summarize analyst views; useful for retail readers but not a direct catalyst. MSN: is CSCO a buy?
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other broker-coverage summaries note broad analyst support; these pieces recap sell-side sentiment but do not add new fundamental data. Zacks analyst summary
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data appears corrupted (shows 0 shares / NaN change), so it provides no actionable signal; ignore until clarified by reliable data providers. (No external link available)
• Neutral Sentiment: Aggregate analyst coverage summaries are circulating (MSN roundup), which can influence sentiment but mostly reiterate existing bullish tilt after recent results and guidance. MSN analyst roundup

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. HSBC upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $90.38.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.3%

The company has a market cap of $320.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $77.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.77 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.29%. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.080-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.010-1.030 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 61.65%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 16,150 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $1,248,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 157,218 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,149,807.04. The trade was a 9.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 281,860 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.35, for a total value of $22,083,731.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 820,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $64,316,496.45. This trade represents a 25.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,044,865 shares of company stock valued at $81,397,635. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,049,893 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 194,695,250 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,507,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,872 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,252,395 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,864,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157,704 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $3,816,825,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 53,612,720 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,668,182,000 after buying an additional 5,081,469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

About Cisco Systems

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.