Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO Shares Acquired by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 13.0% during the first quarter, owning 7,491,240 shares valued at approximately $462 million.
• Multiple brokerages have raised their price targets for Cisco, with Bank of America setting a new target at $85.00, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• Cisco announced a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, representing an annualized payout of $1.64 and a dividend yield of 2.4%, effective for stockholders of record on October 3rd.

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 13.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,491,240 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 863,284 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.19% of Cisco Systems worth $462,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 388,949,854 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $24,002,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,648 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 47,117,146 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,907,599,000 after acquiring an additional 4,437,450 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 37.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 46,973,293 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,898,722,000 after acquiring an additional 12,775,066 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,471,275 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $2,159,099,000 after acquiring an additional 2,637,006 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 11.0% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 29,170,847 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,679,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898,391 shares during the period. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 8,726 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.54, for a total value of $571,902.04. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 174,669 shares in the company, valued at $11,447,806.26. This trade represents a 4.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 9,061 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $603,462.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 237,405 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,811,173. This trade represents a 3.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,311 shares of company stock valued at $5,916,823. 0.01% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CSCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Cisco Systems from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $73.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $76.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 14th. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.53.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO traded down $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,048,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,822,246. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.85 and a twelve month high of $72.55. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $68.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.99.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.60%.

Cisco Systems 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.