New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Raises Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 8.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 196,574 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,600 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems makes up approximately 0.6% of New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $23,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,129,647,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $4,473,272,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 8,718.3% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 51,952,421 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $400,190,000 after buying an additional 51,363,281 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at about $5,892,379,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at about $4,714,574,000. 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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on CSCO shares. HSBC lowered shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, August 14th. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $82.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.43.

Cisco Systems Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $109.93 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.13 and a 52-week high of $130.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 20.95% and a return on equity of 30.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 2,760 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.46, for a total value of $310,389.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 165,276 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,938.96. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total transaction of $723,495.11. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 167,116 shares in the company, valued at $18,638,447.48. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 53,611 shares of company stock worth $6,066,680 in the last 90 days. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.