Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO Shares Purchased by AE Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cisco by 11.8% in Q4, adding 140,532 shares to hold 1,331,543 shares worth about $102.57 million.
• Q2 results showed roughly 21% revenue growth driven by AI networking, spurring analyst upgrades (Evercore to Outperform, DZ Bank to Strong-Buy) and leaving the stock with a "Moderate Buy" consensus and an average target of $89.81 (JPMorgan raised its target to $96).
• Cisco raised its quarterly dividend to $0.42 ($1.68 annualized) for a ~2.0% yield, with an ex-dividend date of April 2 and payment on April 22.

AE Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO - Free Report) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,331,543 shares of the network equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 140,532 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $102,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider's stock valued at $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 24,562 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 13,974 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $969,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 118.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 90,650 shares of the network equipment provider's stock worth $6,289,000 after acquiring an additional 590,650 shares in the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the subject of several analyst reports. President Capital lowered their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Evercore upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, January 26th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Cisco Systems to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of Cisco Systems from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jeetendra I. Patel sold 11,248 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $854,848.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 262,776 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,970,976. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 3,132 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total transaction of $249,745.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 188,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,040,000.62. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.01% of the company's stock.

Cisco Systems News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target to $96 and kept an "overweight" rating, signaling analyst conviction and upward earnings/valuation expectations for CSCO. JPMorgan price target raise
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 FY26 results and commentary point to an AI-driven networking surge (reported ~21% revenue growth), supporting the view that infrastructure spend is strengthening. Cisco's AI networking surge
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Cisco is in advanced talks to buy Astrix Security, which would expand Cisco's AI-agent security and subscription-software strategy if completed. Cisco Astrix talks
• Positive Sentiment: Partner ecosystem momentum: Endace announced integrations with many security platforms, including Cisco XDR, underscoring sustained enterprise demand for packet capture and Cisco security tooling. Endace partner program
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector note — Ciena's large rally on AI/cloud demand shows strong investor appetite for networking/infra names, which can lift interest in Cisco as a larger peer. Ciena surge
• Neutral Sentiment: Market coverage: a Zacks roundup noted CSCO has outperformed recently, reflecting the same positive drivers above but not adding new fundamental data. Zacks market roundup
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded Cisco from "strong-buy" to "hold," which could temper momentum from upgrades if other shops follow. Zacks downgrade
• Negative Sentiment: A Seeking Alpha piece warns that the $28B Splunk deal tripled Cisco's debt and compressed free cash flow, arguing valuation risks and limited dividend upside until FCF recovers. Seeking Alpha FCF analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/market caution pieces note that growth can be volatile in networking names and stress the need to monitor margin and cash-flow recovery post-M&A. Growth stock caution

Cisco Systems Stock Up 2.6%

CSCO stock opened at $84.50 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $79.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.54. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.83 and a 12 month high of $88.18. The company has a market cap of $333.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $15.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. Cisco Systems's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Cisco Systems's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. Cisco Systems's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.95%.

Cisco Systems Company 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.

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