NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 7:07 PM ET — Market closed
- Cisco Systems (CSCO) last closed down about 0.5% at $77.03 in the final trading session of 2025.
- The stock is due to trade ex-dividend on Jan. 2 for a 41-cent quarterly payout.
- Investors are watching the first U.S. session of 2026 for dividend-driven price adjustment and early-year positioning.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) shares will return to trading on Friday with the stock set to go ex-dividend, a calendar event that can sway near-term price action. The shares last closed down about 0.5% at $77.03.
The timing matters because Jan. 2 marks the first U.S. trading day of 2026 and post-holiday liquidity — how easily shares change hands without moving the price — can be thin. Dividend-related flows can magnify moves when company news is light.
Cisco heads into the reopening after U.S. stocks ended 2025 lower, with the S&P 500 down 0.74% and the Nasdaq off 0.76% in the final session. “I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity. Reuters
U.S. exchanges were closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day, and normal trading hours resume on Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange’s holiday calendar.
In Wednesday’s session, Cisco ended at $77.03, down $0.36 from the prior close, after trading between $76.99 and $77.81.
Peers in enterprise networking and infrastructure also finished lower, with Arista Networks down about 1.1%, Dell Technologies down about 1.6% and Hewlett Packard Enterprise off 0.2% in the last session.
Cisco, based in San Jose, California, sells networking hardware and software used by corporate and cloud customers. It is also a widely held dividend payer in the technology sector.
The company’s next dividend is 41 cents a share. Cisco said it will pay the quarterly dividend on Jan. 21 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Jan. 2, and Fidelity’s dividend calendar lists Jan. 2 as the ex-dividend date.
The ex-dividend date is the cutoff for receiving the payout; buyers on or after that day are not entitled to it. All else equal, stocks often open lower by roughly the dividend amount, and traders watch whether the move is larger than the expected adjustment.
Cisco’s shares have traded between $52.11 and $80.82 over the last 52 weeks, putting the stock a few dollars below its recent high near $81. Traders often refer to prior highs as “resistance,” a zone where selling has tended to emerge. StockAnalysis
Before Friday’s open, investors will be watching whether CSCO’s first trade of the year reflects mostly the dividend reset or a broader shift in risk appetite. A move that materially exceeds the dividend can signal additional selling or buying pressure.
On the macro calendar, weekly initial jobless claims are due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday, and the ISM manufacturing index is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 5 at 10:00 a.m. ET, according to the New York Fed’s schedule and ISM’s release guidance.
For Cisco, the next widely watched company catalyst is its fiscal second-quarter results. MarketBeat estimates the report date as Feb. 11 after the market close, based on past reporting schedules.
