Equitable Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 181,965 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,374,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,442,000. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 198,549 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $13,905,000 after purchasing an additional 26,455 shares during the period. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 101.8% during the fourth quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 107,306 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $8,266,000 after purchasing an additional 54,141 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 47.1% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 200,341 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,432,000 after purchasing an additional 64,144 shares during the period. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $19,114,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.46, for a total value of $310,389.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 165,276 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,938.96. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 5,832 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $650,093.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 128,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,310,741.54. This represents a 4.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More Cisco Systems News

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CSCO shares. CICC Research increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. New Street Research increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.43.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

CSCO opened at $112.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $442.03 billion, a PE ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.13 and a twelve month high of $130.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $115.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

About Cisco Systems

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.