Old North State Trust LLC Acquires New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Old North State Trust LLC bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 23,815 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,797,000. Cisco Systems comprises 1.4% of Old North State Trust LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at $57,000. Ruggaard & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at about $861,000. Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,374,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,879,000. Finally, Brasada Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,348,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Cisco Systems

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $723,495.11. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,638,447.48. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.54, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. HSBC downgraded Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $120.00 in a report on Friday, August 14th. CICC Research upped their price target on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.43.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $112.15 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $115.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $101.18. The stock has a market cap of $442.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.13 and a 1-year high of $130.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.The firm 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 business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share 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 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 dividend yield of 1.5%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.