Thornburg Investment Management Inc. Reduces Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Thornburg Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,715,962 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 198,371 shares during the quarter. Cisco Systems comprises approximately 3.1% of Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Thornburg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $319,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Cisco Systems during the second quarter worth about $42,129,647,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 0.5% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings 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 valued at $5,802,382,000 after acquiring an additional 206,352 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 59,836,782 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,609,227,000 after acquiring an additional 6,224,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,473,272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CSCO. CICC Research boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Cisco Systems from $95.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $121.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cisco Systems

In related news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 5,832 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.47, for a total value of $650,093.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 128,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,310,741.54. This trade represents a 4.35% 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 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 transaction of $310,389.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 165,276 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,938.96. This represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680. Insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $109.93 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.24. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $66.13 and a 1-year high of $130.37. The firm has a market cap of $433.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is currently 50.30%.

Cisco Systems News Summary

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

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.