Piper Sandler Cuts Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) Price Target to $125.00

Posted by George Bondi on Sep 25th, 2026

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Free Report) had its target price reduced by Piper Sandler from $132.00 to $125.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the network equipment provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. HSBC lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.36.

Read Our Latest Report on CSCO

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $106.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $421.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $112.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.36. Cisco Systems has a 1-year low of $66.81 and a 1-year high of $130.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.The business had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Analysts forecast that Cisco Systems will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya Subaiya sold 312 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.18, for a total value of $34,376.16. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 127,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,065,688.98. This represents a 0.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Jeetendra Patel sold 7,170 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.57, for a total transaction of $799,956.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 230,593 shares in the company, valued at $25,727,261.01. The trade was a 3.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 44,869 shares of company stock valued at $5,005,620 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cisco Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8.4% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 726,999 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $86,704,000 after buying an additional 56,088 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 363,506 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $47,287,000 after acquiring an additional 71,774 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Cisco Systems by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,702,020 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,320,657,000 after acquiring an additional 644,534 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 207,106,569 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $25,278,492,000 after purchasing an additional 13,512,872 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cisco Systems News Summary

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

Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s AI infrastructure strategy remains a key bullish argument. Its networking hardware, cybersecurity products and Splunk-related AI tools position the company to benefit from data-center expansion and enterprise adoption of “AgenticOps.” Cisco and Omdia reported that 95% of enterprises believe existing AIOps tools are insufficient, while more than half have begun adopting agentic operations. Cisco AI Research: AgenticOps Scaling Quickly in the Enterprise
Positive Sentiment: Cisco announced a collaboration with Infleqtion to develop distributed quantum networking, including quantum-memory-to-optical transduction and a prototype Universal Quantum Switch. The initiative is early-stage but reinforces Cisco’s positioning in next-generation networking. Cisco Unveils Quantum Networking Push
Positive Sentiment: Notre Dame’s deployment of roughly 1,000 Cisco switches, along with automation, observability and services, showcases demand for Cisco’s integrated campus and AI-ready networking offerings. However, the contract’s financial value was not disclosed. Cisco Drops as 1,000 Switches Build an AI Campus
Neutral Sentiment: CEO Chuck Robbins urged companies to use AI to improve productivity rather than simply cut jobs. The comments support Cisco’s broader AI narrative but also highlight workforce-disruption and adoption challenges. Cisco CEO Warns Workers About AI-Driven Change
Negative Sentiment: Piper Sandler maintained a Neutral rating and reduced its Cisco price target to $125 from $132, citing concerns that growth may be peaking and that the stock’s earnings multiple could contract. The downgrade drove the recent decline and remains the main near-term pressure on CSCO. Piper Sandler Cuts Cisco Price Target

Cisco Systems Company Profile

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Cisco Systems, Inc is a global technology company that provides networking, cybersecurity, collaboration, observability and other information technology solutions. Its offerings include routers, switches, wireless networking equipment, data center infrastructure, security platforms, unified communications tools and software designed to help organizations connect, manage and protect their digital environments.

Cisco serves businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, telecommunications providers and other organizations worldwide.