M&G PLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

M&G PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 476,496 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 82,653 shares during the period. M&G PLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $32,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CSCO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,816,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in Cisco Systems by 413.3% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 22,393,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,553,645,000 after purchasing an additional 18,030,441 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 46.2% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,836,858 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,833,261,000 after purchasing an additional 12,904,969 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6,778.2% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,810,012 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $472,479,000 after purchasing an additional 6,711,004 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 393,989,568 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,334,996,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039,714 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Cisco Systems

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco unveiled the Silicon One G300 switching chip designed for large AI cluster buildouts, positioning the company to compete in a multi‑hundred‑billion dollar AI infrastructure market — a clear long‑term growth catalyst. Silicon One G300 announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat both EPS and revenue expectations and management highlighted strong AI/customer orders (notably ~$2.1B of AI infrastructure orders), supporting revenue momentum and the firm’s raised FY guidance. That underpins upside if Cisco converts AI demand into sustained margin expansion. Zacks coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple sell‑side firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (examples: CICC raised its target to $96; UBS, Citi, BNP/Exane and others increased targets), which can support further upside via analyst-driven flows and ETF reweighting. CICC price target update
• Neutral Sentiment: Free cash flow fell year‑over‑year but remains positive with healthy margins; analysts note strong FCF long term despite higher capex for AI initiatives — this reduces downside risk but flags near‑term investment drag. TalkMarkets FCF piece
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat and other bullish pieces argue for large long‑term upside (price‑target extrapolations to $150–$182), but these are speculative scenarios that rely on sustained AI share gains and margin recovery. MarketBeat long-term thesis
• Negative Sentiment: Investors punished Cisco after management disclosed gross‑margin pressure driven by a global memory shortage and higher component costs; that margin miss triggered a sharp selloff and created near‑term volatility risk for CSCO. CNBC margin story
• Negative Sentiment: Despite upbeat revenue/guidance, some analysts and market commentary viewed Cisco’s margin outlook and guidance as mixed, prompting sector weakness and headline risk that could keep short‑term selling pressure elevated. MarketWatch on market impact
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data in the feed is inconsistent/zero and appears not to be a meaningful new factor for intraday moves. (Days‑to‑cover figures show no material change.)

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $76.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $303.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.14. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $52.11 and a one year high of $88.18.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 57.54%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other news, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total value of $1,039,789.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 61,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,753,521.90. This represents a 17.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 56,038 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.33, for a total transaction of $4,389,456.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 179,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,082,167.40. The trade was a 23.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 225,227 shares of company stock worth $17,459,356 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CSCO. Bank of America raised their price target on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Evercore upped their target price on Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.19.

About Cisco Systems

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.