Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Lowers Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 50.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 439,060 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 440,745 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $33,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 96.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 408 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its position in Cisco Systems by 115.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 468 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the period. Finally, Holos Integrated Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $82.36 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $79.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.48. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.83 and a 12 month high of $88.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $325.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.83.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 19.22% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is 58.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, CICC Research raised their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 19,545 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,485,420.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 671,095 shares in the company, valued at $51,003,220. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Maria Victoria Wong sold 551 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.54, for a total transaction of $42,724.54. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 27,957 shares in the company, valued at $2,167,785.78. This represents a 1.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 46,431 shares of company stock worth $3,574,820 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Key Cisco Systems News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and others highlight an AI networking surge driving material top?line momentum; Zacks says AI?driven networking contributed to substantial revenue growth and helps justify further upside as infrastructure and wireless demand shift in Cisco’s favor. Cisco’s AI Networking Surge Gathers Momentum
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish analysis on Seeking Alpha notes AI infrastructure orders (including hyperscaler demand) and disciplined OPEX helped Cisco raise full?year EPS guidance after the quarter, supporting the investment case despite margin pressure from memory costs. Cisco Remains A Buy As AI Tailwinds Broaden
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco is reportedly in talks to buy Israeli cybersecurity startup Astrix for roughly $250–$350M to bolster AI?agent security monitoring — a strategic tuck?in that strengthens Cisco’s security stack but is not a material spend relative to its balance sheet. M&A News: Cisco in Talks to Acquire Astrix
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation pieces note a strong 1?year share run (up ~47% over 1 year) and ask whether current levels are fair; these analyses are weighing momentum versus stretched gains. Is Cisco Systems Fairly Priced?
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks downgraded Cisco from “strong?buy” to “hold,” removing some buy?side conviction and likely prompting short?term selling pressure. Zacks Downgrades Cisco
• Negative Sentiment: Bear case from Seeking Alpha flags the $28B Splunk deal for materially increasing debt, compressing free cash flow versus pre?Splunk levels, and limiting dividend upside — a structural FCF concern investors are reacting to. AI Top-Line Boom Can’t Hide Free Cash Flow Problem

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.