Ascent Group LLC Raises Holdings in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 24.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,216 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,571 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Cisco Systems by 1.1% in the second quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 420,336 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $29,163,000 after acquiring an additional 4,525 shares in the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 2.7% in the second quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,605 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,152,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of Cisco Systems by 53.3% in the second quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 77,234 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,358,000 after acquiring an additional 26,840 shares during the period. Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its position in Cisco Systems by 15.9% during the 2nd quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD now owns 4,389,728 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $304,451,000 after purchasing an additional 603,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cisco Systems by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 99,252,395 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $6,864,058,000 after acquiring an additional 1,157,704 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CSCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Cisco Systems from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Finally, Citic Securities increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $75.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Monday, November 17th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.70.

Cisco Systems Stock Performance

Cisco Systems stock opened at $77.41 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.11 and a twelve month high of $80.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $75.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.90. The company has a market cap of $305.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.87.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.29%. The company had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Cisco Systems’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Cisco Systems has set its FY 2026 guidance at 4.080-4.140 EPS and its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.010-1.030 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.65%.

Insider Activity

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 164,584 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.85, for a total value of $12,812,864.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 196,738 shares in the company, valued at $15,316,053.30. The trade was a 45.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 16,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $1,248,072.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 157,218 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,149,807.04. This trade represents a 9.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,044,865 shares of company stock valued at $81,397,635. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Company 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.