Equitable Holdings Inc. Purchases New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Equitable Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 181,965 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,374,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CSCO. Centaurus Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,879,000. Brasada Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,348,000. FSA Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $423,000. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth $4,242,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Cisco Systems in the second quarter worth $3,810,000. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.46, for a total transaction of $310,389.60. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $723,495.11. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,638,447.48. The trade was a 3.74% 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. Insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $112.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $442.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.18.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.43.

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

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.