Centaurus Financial Inc. Takes $1.88 Million Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 16,000 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,879,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,129,647,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,057,962 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 59,836,782 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,609,227,000 after acquiring an additional 6,224,062 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter worth $4,473,272,000. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cisco Systems News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a $135 price target and cited Cisco’s potential supply advantage through TSMC amid shortages affecting the AI infrastructure industry. The endorsement suggests analysts see room for further appreciation from current levels. Morgan Stanley keeps Cisco at $135 on TSMC supply edge
• Positive Sentiment: AI networking demand remains a key catalyst. Reports point to strong hyperscaler orders, networking growth, and Cisco’s expanding security portfolio as advantages over Hewlett Packard Enterprise for long-term investors. HPE vs. CSCO: Which Stock Has an Edge in the Networking Space?
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco is expanding its partnership with NVIDIA around AI infrastructure and liquid-cooling systems, positioning the company to benefit as data centers adopt higher-density AI computing. Its Secure AI Factory initiative also embeds cybersecurity into AI deployments, potentially supporting software and security growth. Nvidia’s AI Chips Are Making Liquid Cooling the New Standard as Cisco Expands Its AI Bet Cisco Expands Secure AI Factory
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s move into rack-scale compute through a Supermicro-related AI infrastructure partnership could increase its share of AI buildout spending beyond traditional networking hardware. Cisco just broke its biggest hardware rule to chase the AI boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco gave all 90,000 employees access to personal AI agents, demonstrating internal AI adoption and potentially improving productivity, though the near-term financial impact is unclear. Cisco Gave All 90,000 Employees Their Own AI Agent
• Negative Sentiment: A customer success story describes Spicer Group replacing its Cisco-based networking stack with open-source VyOS across 13 sites. While only one customer example, it highlights the competitive risk from lower-cost, flexible alternatives. VyOS Powers Spicer Group’s Cisco-to-Open-Source Network Transformation

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $723,495.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,116 shares in the company, valued at $18,638,447.48. This represents a 3.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.46, for a total transaction of $310,389.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 165,276 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,938.96. This represents a 1.64% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. 0.01% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

NASDAQ CSCO opened at $112.15 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $442.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $115.41 and a 200 day moving average of $101.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.13 and a twelve month high of $130.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $17.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 50.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CSCO. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Citic Securities raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Cisco Systems from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.43.

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.