Piper Sandler Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $86.00 to $132.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 11.67% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CSCO. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. HSBC upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $74.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.55.

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.3%

CSCO stock opened at $118.21 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.41 and its 200 day moving average is $79.95. The stock has a market cap of $466.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 0.92. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $62.30 and a 1-year high of $119.36.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The network equipment provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $15.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.56 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.14% and a return on equity of 28.44%. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 1,744 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $134,410.08. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 156,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,076,329.51. This represents a 1.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 551 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.54, for a total value of $42,724.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 27,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,167,785.78. This trade represents a 1.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 15,587 shares of company stock worth $1,230,765 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 during the period. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 198,549 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,905,000 after acquiring an additional 26,455 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.9% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 686,469 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $46,165,000 after acquiring an additional 56,057 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 213.8% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 20,497 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after acquiring an additional 13,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 40.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,490,482 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $238,818,000 after acquiring an additional 997,738 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco reported stronger-than-expected Q3 earnings and revenue, with EPS of $1.06 topping estimates and sales of $15.84 billion above forecasts. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: The company raised full-year guidance and pointed to roughly $9 billion in fiscal 2026 hyperscaler AI infrastructure orders, reinforcing the view that Cisco is becoming a key AI infrastructure beneficiary. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms raised price targets after the earnings beat, including HSBC, Evercore, Piper Sandler, KeyCorp, Morgan Stanley, UBS, BNP Paribas, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, signaling broad Wall Street optimism. Article title
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s CEO said AI will force a “multi-billion dollar infrastructure reset,” which supports the bullish narrative that the company is at the center of a long upgrade cycle. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco also announced plans to cut about 4,000 jobs as it reshapes spending toward AI, which may improve efficiency but adds some execution risk. Article title
• Neutral Sentiment: Some commentary warns that the stock’s rapid rally has pushed valuation higher, and options activity shows elevated volatility expectations heading into the next phase. Article title

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.