Dearborn Partners LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Dearborn Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 12,480 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,466,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,392,000 after buying an additional 24,562 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $542,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 13,974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $969,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 118.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 90,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $6,289,000 after acquiring an additional 590,650 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CSCO. Zacks Research downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $87.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.43.

Cisco Systems News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a $135 price target and cited Cisco’s potential supply advantage through TSMC amid shortages affecting the AI infrastructure industry. The endorsement suggests analysts see room for further appreciation from current levels. Morgan Stanley keeps Cisco at $135 on TSMC supply edge
• Positive Sentiment: AI networking demand remains a key catalyst. Reports point to strong hyperscaler orders, networking growth, and Cisco’s expanding security portfolio as advantages over Hewlett Packard Enterprise for long-term investors. HPE vs. CSCO: Which Stock Has an Edge in the Networking Space?
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco is expanding its partnership with NVIDIA around AI infrastructure and liquid-cooling systems, positioning the company to benefit as data centers adopt higher-density AI computing. Its Secure AI Factory initiative also embeds cybersecurity into AI deployments, potentially supporting software and security growth. Nvidia’s AI Chips Are Making Liquid Cooling the New Standard as Cisco Expands Its AI Bet Cisco Expands Secure AI Factory
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s move into rack-scale compute through a Supermicro-related AI infrastructure partnership could increase its share of AI buildout spending beyond traditional networking hardware. Cisco just broke its biggest hardware rule to chase the AI boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco gave all 90,000 employees access to personal AI agents, demonstrating internal AI adoption and potentially improving productivity, though the near-term financial impact is unclear. Cisco Gave All 90,000 Employees Their Own AI Agent
• Negative Sentiment: A customer success story describes Spicer Group replacing its Cisco-based networking stack with open-source VyOS across 13 sites. While only one customer example, it highlights the competitive risk from lower-cost, flexible alternatives. VyOS Powers Spicer Group’s Cisco-to-Open-Source Network Transformation

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.46, for a total value of $310,389.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 165,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,938.96. This trade represents a 1.64% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,628 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.54, for a total transaction of $2,412,387.12. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 602,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,226,273.40. The trade was a 3.46% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $112.15 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.13 and a fifty-two week high of $130.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $115.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.18. The firm has a market cap of $442.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.The firm’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.30%.

Cisco Systems Profile

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.