BNP Paribas Trims Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

BNP Paribas lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 37.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 278,974 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after selling 165,601 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.9% of BNP Paribas' portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. BNP Paribas' holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $32,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CSCO. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth about $42,129,647,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 75,326,258 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $5,802,382,000 after acquiring an additional 206,352 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the 4th 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. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $4,473,272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Cisco Systems this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco launched a Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio in Canada and expanded its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA and Supermicro. The offerings target enterprises, neocloud providers and sovereign-cloud customers seeking integrated AI compute, cooling and networking infrastructure. Cisco Unveils Sovereign and AI Infrastructure Offerings
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a $135 price target, citing Cisco’s potential supply advantage through TSMC as shortages continue to affect the AI infrastructure market. This supports the view that Cisco may be positioned to benefit from strong AI networking demand. Morgan Stanley Reveals Cisco’s Supply Edge
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s NVIDIA partnership is also linked to the industry’s shift toward liquid-cooled, high-density AI systems, potentially expanding the company’s role in the broader AI infrastructure buildout. NVIDIA’s AI Chips and Liquid Cooling
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts comparing Cisco with Hewlett Packard Enterprise highlighted Cisco’s strong hyperscaler AI orders, networking growth and expanding security business as long-term competitive advantages. HPE vs. CSCO
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco gave all approximately 90,000 employees access to personal AI agents, demonstrating broad internal adoption of AI, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Cisco Gives Employees AI Agents
• Negative Sentiment: A growth-stock analysis questioned whether Cisco can sustain enough growth to support its premium valuation, reviving concerns that enthusiasm surrounding AI networking may have outpaced underlying fundamentals. With a P/E ratio above 30, the stock may be particularly sensitive to any slowdown in growth expectations. Growth Stock Analysis

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "buy" 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 research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Evercore increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $110.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $129.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 7,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.57, for a total value of $799,956.90. Following the sale, the insider owned 230,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,727,261.01. This represents a 3.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 5,832 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total transaction of $650,093.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 128,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,310,741.54. This represents a 4.35% 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 sold a total of 53,611 shares of company stock worth $6,066,680 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $109.93 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $115.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.24. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $66.13 and a fifty-two week high of $130.37. The company has a market capitalization of $433.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $17.25 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. 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 forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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