Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Stock Price

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) had its price target dropped by analysts at Citigroup from $139.00 to $120.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the network equipment provider’s stock. Citigroup‘s price target points to a potential upside of 25.47% from the company’s current price.

CSCO has been the topic of several other reports. HSBC downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $150.00 to $130.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Zacks Research raised shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on Cisco Systems from $165.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.64.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO stock traded down $6.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $95.64. The stock had a trading volume of 28,551,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,473,690. Cisco Systems has a 52-week low of $72.80 and a 52-week high of $130.37. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.21. The company has a market cap of $377.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its 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. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 22.34% and a return on equity of 33.06%. The business had revenue of $18.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 5,832 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total transaction of $650,093.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 128,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,310,741.54. The trade was a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 shares were sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total transaction of $74,922.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 163,337 shares in the company, valued at $17,996,470.66. The trade was a 0.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 6,824 shares of company stock worth $759,392. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cisco Systems

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vista Cima Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 8.6% in the third quarter. Vista Cima Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,668 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the third quarter. Oxford Financial Group LTD. LLC now owns 4,087 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Cornermen Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the third quarter worth $1,292,000. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 29.1% in the third quarter. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,487 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 10.2% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 676,948 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,860,000 after purchasing an additional 62,513 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Recent Cisco Systems Headlines

These are some of the CSCO headlines that stood out recently:

• 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
• Negative Sentiment: Fiscal Q1 product orders rose 21%, but missed expectations and slowed from the prior period, raising questions about the pace of demand growth. Yahoo Finance: Cisco down on expectations miss
• 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

About Cisco Systems

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.