VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes $128.75 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,096,125 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $128,751,000. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.8% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in Cisco Systems by 11,624.6% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 706,130,053 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $82,942,036,000 after purchasing an additional 700,107,427 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,129,647,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 195,521,161 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,060,995,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057,962 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 75,326,258 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,802,382,000 after buying an additional 206,352 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 59,836,782 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,609,227,000 after buying an additional 6,224,062 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,628 shares of Cisco Systems 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 602,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,226,273.40. The trade was a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of the business’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 trade represents a 1.64% 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. Insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock worth $6,066,680 over the last quarter. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. New Street Research raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.68.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $109.20 on Monday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1 year low of $66.13 and a 1 year high of $130.37. 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 $114.26 and a 200 day moving average of $102.38. The stock has a market cap of $430.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.00.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. The business’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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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