Cisco slides as investors refocus on margins and guidance after recent earnings

Cisco Systems (CSCO) is down 4.1% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The drop appears tied to lingering post-earnings concerns around profitability and forward guidance, even after a recent quarter that beat on revenue and EPS. With no major new company announcement surfacing today, the move also looks consistent with investors continuing to de-risk networking names when margins or outlook language are viewed as cautious.

Details:

Cisco’s fiscal Q2 2026 results (reported February 11, 2026) showed revenue and EPS ahead of consensus, but investors focused on gross margin coming in below expectations, which pressured the stock around the release.

The same earnings materials included Q3 and full-year fiscal 2026 guidance; market reaction suggested the outlook did not fully offset concerns about mix and cost pressures.

Cisco scheduled a run of March investor events (including a Morgan Stanley conference appearance on March 5, 2026) and stated no new financial information would be discussed, reducing the odds of a fresh, positive catalyst into this period.

This could also be amplified by positioning/profit-taking after volatility around the February earnings move, rather than a single incremental headline today.

Sources:

Cisco Investor Relations, SEC, Finance Yahoo

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$CSCO Insider Trading Activity

$CSCO insiders have traded $CSCO stock on the open market 46 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 46 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $CSCO stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

CHARLES ROBBINS (Chair and CEO) has made 0 purchases and 11 sales selling 621,977 shares for an estimated $48,457,033.
JEETENDRA I PATEL (President and CPO) has made 0 purchases and 7 sales selling 175,144 shares for an estimated $13,615,054.
DEBORAH L STAHLKOPF (EVP and Chief Legal Officer) has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 167,322 shares for an estimated $13,000,162.
THIMAYA K. SUBAIYA (EVP, Operations) has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 69,760 shares for an estimated $5,448,653.
MARK PATTERSON (EVP and CFO) has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 68,916 shares for an estimated $5,327,200.
OLIVER TUSZIK (EVP, Global Sales) has made 0 purchases and 5 sales selling 36,319 shares for an estimated $2,665,038.
MICHAEL D CAPELLAS has made 0 purchases and 2 sales selling 27,000 shares for an estimated $2,084,854.
KRISTINA M JOHNSON sold 13,481 shares for an estimated $1,039,844
MARIA VICTORIA WONG (SVP & Chief Acctg Officer) has made 0 purchases and 6 sales selling 12,887 shares for an estimated $985,360.

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

$CSCO Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 1,665 institutional investors add shares of $CSCO stock to their portfolio, and 1,693 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS AM, A DISTINCT BUSINESS UNIT OF UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC removed 107,699,854 shares (-75.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $8,296,119,753
AUTO-OWNERS INSURANCE CO added 51,854,434 shares (+52919.7%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $3,994,347,051
PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/ added 14,874,407 shares (+103.2%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $1,145,775,571
KINGSTONE CAPITAL PARTNERS TEXAS, LLC removed 13,037,497 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q3 2025, for an estimated $892,025,544
DZ BANK AG DEUTSCHE ZENTRAL GENOSSENSCHAFTS BANK, FRANKFURT AM MAIN removed 9,464,347 shares (-50.4%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $729,038,649
FMR LLC removed 8,059,384 shares (-11.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $620,814,349
FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC added 7,679,422 shares (+18.0%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $591,545,876

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

$CSCO Government Contracts

We have seen $10,428,330 of award payments to $CSCO over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

DOS REMOTE WI-FI MONITORING: $9,299,832
CISCO MAINTENANCE DELIVERY ORDER: INFINTEVISION/STRONGLEPTON: $787,809
CISCO MAINTENANCE TASK ORDER: $299,288
INTERNET SERVICES: $30,000
LICENSE FOR SLIDO AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM TO SUPPORT INTERACTIVE Q&A, POLLING, AND REAL-TIME FEEDBACK ...: $11,400

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard.

$CSCO Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $CSCO stock 7 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 5 have been purchases and 2 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $CSCO stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR. purchased up to $15,000 on 01/09.
REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD MCCORMICK purchased up to $15,000 on 11/05.
REPRESENTATIVE LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ sold up to $15,000 on 10/28.
REPRESENTATIVE JARED MOSKOWITZ has traded it 3 times. They made 3 purchases worth up to $80,000 on 10/10 and 0 sales.
REPRESENTATIVE VAL T. HOYLE sold up to $15,000 on 09/23.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Quiver Quantitative's congressional trading dashboard.

$CSCO Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $CSCO in the last several months. We have seen 9 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Morgan Stanley issued a "Overweight" rating on 12/17/2025
Keybanc issued a "Overweight" rating on 11/13/2025
Rosenblatt issued a "Buy" rating on 11/13/2025
B of A Securities issued a "Buy" rating on 11/13/2025
Melius Research issued a "Buy" rating on 11/13/2025
Citigroup issued a "Buy" rating on 11/13/2025
JP Morgan issued a "Overweight" rating on 11/13/2025

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $CSCO, check out Quiver Quantitative's $CSCO forecast page.

$CSCO Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $CSCO recently. We have seen 12 analysts offer price targets for $CSCO in the last 6 months, with a median target of $93.0.

Here are some recent targets:

David Vogt from UBS set a target price of $95.0 on 02/12/2026
Mike Genovese from Rosenblatt set a target price of $100.0 on 02/12/2026
Amit Daryanani from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $100.0 on 01/26/2026
Meta Marshall from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $91.0 on 12/17/2025
Tim Long from Barclays set a target price of $76.0 on 11/13/2025
Samik Chatterjee from JP Morgan set a target price of $90.0 on 11/13/2025
Atif Malik from Citigroup set a target price of $85.0 on 11/13/2025

This article is not financial advice. See Quiver Quantitative's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.