Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price Down 2% – What’s Next?

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) traded down 2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $109.71 and last traded at $109.93. Approximately 13,014,016 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 23,298,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $112.15.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco launched a Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio in Canada and expanded its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA and Supermicro. The offerings target enterprises, neocloud providers and sovereign-cloud customers seeking integrated AI compute, cooling and networking infrastructure. Cisco Unveils Sovereign and AI Infrastructure Offerings
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a $135 price target, citing Cisco’s potential supply advantage through TSMC as shortages continue to affect the AI infrastructure market. This supports the view that Cisco may be positioned to benefit from strong AI networking demand. Morgan Stanley Reveals Cisco’s Supply Edge
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s NVIDIA partnership is also linked to the industry’s shift toward liquid-cooled, high-density AI systems, potentially expanding the company’s role in the broader AI infrastructure buildout. NVIDIA’s AI Chips and Liquid Cooling
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts comparing Cisco with Hewlett Packard Enterprise highlighted Cisco’s strong hyperscaler AI orders, networking growth and expanding security business as long-term competitive advantages. HPE vs. CSCO
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco gave all approximately 90,000 employees access to personal AI agents, demonstrating broad internal adoption of AI, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Cisco Gives Employees AI Agents
• Negative Sentiment: A growth-stock analysis questioned whether Cisco can sustain enough growth to support its premium valuation, reviving concerns that enthusiasm surrounding AI networking may have outpaced underlying fundamentals. With a P/E ratio above 30, the stock may be particularly sensitive to any slowdown in growth expectations. Growth Stock Analysis

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citic Securities lifted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $87.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.43.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 2.0%

The stock has a market cap of $433.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $115.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.95% and a return on equity of 30.16%. The business had revenue of $17.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.050-5.110 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 1.320-1.340 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.54, for a total value of $2,412,387.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 602,710 shares in the company, valued at $67,226,273.40. This represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 5,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $650,093.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 128,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,310,741.54. This represents a 4.35% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cozad Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the first quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,203 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.9% in the second quarter. Dogwood Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,413 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. August Group Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. August Group Capital Ltd now owns 4,723 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Financial Insights Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Financial Insights Inc. now owns 6,220 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CPA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. CPA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 5,335 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.