AQR Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,296,897 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco Systems by 31.5% in Q1, owning approximately 5.4 million shares worth about $330.9 million after acquiring an additional 1.3 million shares.
• Major institutional investors collectively hold 73.33% of Cisco's stock, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Cisco has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.4%, payable on October 22nd to investors of record on October 3rd.

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 31.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,418,603 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,296,897 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.14% of Cisco Systems worth $330,914,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alexis Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 9,900.0% during the 1st quarter. Alexis Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 4,950 shares during the period. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 2.6% during the first quarter. American Trust Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,958 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $923,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position 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 buying an additional 2,898,391 shares in the last quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Cisco Systems by 66.6% during the first quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,414 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $1,136,000 after buying an additional 7,362 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 8.9% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 4,429,021 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $273,315,000 after buying an additional 360,200 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 30,557 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.63, for a total value of $2,036,012.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 639,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $42,576,570. This represents a 4.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 237,405 shares of the company's stock, 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 89,311 shares of company stock worth $5,916,823. 0.01% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 1.6%

CSCO traded down $1.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $66.90. 21,048,179 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,822,246. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.89. The stock 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.85 and a 52 week high of $72.55.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $14.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.63 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.02% and a net margin of 18.45%.Cisco Systems's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. 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 analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Cisco Systems from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. William Blair upgraded Cisco Systems to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. New Street Research reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, CICC Research initiated coverage on Cisco Systems in a report on Monday, July 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $74.53.

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.