Empowered Funds LLC Takes Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 614,435 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $72,172,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Cisco Systems by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 74,187 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $4,392,000 after acquiring an additional 24,562 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 2,474 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 7.5% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 10,178 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $706,000 after purchasing an additional 712 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 13,974 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $969,000 after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 118.1% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 90,650 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,289,000 after buying an additional 590,650 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Shares of Cisco Systems stock opened at $112.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $442.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $115.41 and its 200-day moving average is $101.18. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a one year low of $66.13 and a one year high of $130.37.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.05. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. 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. Equities analysts predict that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 21,628 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.54, for a total value of $2,412,387.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 602,710 shares in the company, valued at $67,226,273.40. This trade represents a 3.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 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 directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock valued at $6,066,680 in the last quarter. 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: 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on CSCO shares. Zacks Research lowered Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings raised Cisco Systems from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cisco Systems from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Argus increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $100.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Cisco Systems from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cisco Systems currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $129.43.

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.