FORA Capital LLC Acquires New Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC acquired 280,390 shares of Cisco Systems valued at approximately $17.3 million, making it the firm's second largest position.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded its target price for Cisco from $73 to $78, also giving the stock an "overweight" rating as part of a broader positive trend among analysts.
• Cisco announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 to be paid on October 22nd, yielding approximately 2.4% annually, with a payout ratio of 62.60%.

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 280,390 shares of the network equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,303,000. Cisco Systems accounts for about 1.8% of FORA Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Legacy Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,100 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. now owns 17,361 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co grew its position in Cisco Systems by 5.4% during the first quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 3,433 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $212,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Rossmore Private Capital increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 69,220 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,272,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSG Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, June 26th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $77.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. New Street Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Cisco Systems from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.09. 14,909,332 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,316,090. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $68.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.71. The firm has a market cap of $273.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.91. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.85 and a 12-month high of $72.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 27.02%. The company had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Cisco Systems has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.970-0.990 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 4.000-4.060 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 9,783 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $651,547.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 161,662 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,766,689.20. This trade represents a 5.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 30,557 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.63, for a total value of $2,036,012.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 639,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $42,576,570. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 119,095 shares of company stock valued at $7,841,167. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.