Howard Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,683 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,147 shares during the quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $9,078,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Cisco Systems during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,816,825,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Cisco Systems by 413.3% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 22,393,371 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,553,645,000 after purchasing an additional 18,030,441 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Cisco Systems by 46.2% during 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 buying an additional 12,904,969 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 6,778.2% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,810,012 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $472,479,000 after buying an additional 6,711,004 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 393,989,568 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $27,334,996,000 after buying an additional 5,039,714 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSCO has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC upped their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cisco Systems from $70.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.81.

Cisco Systems Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $78.32 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.11 and a 52-week high of $80.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $309.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $76.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $14.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.77 billion. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 18.38% and a return on equity of 27.29%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 2nd. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.65%.

Insider Transactions at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, Director Michael D. Capellas sold 10,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $836,860.50. Following the sale, the director owned 146,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,289,363.84. The trade was a 6.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 13,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.13, for a total transaction of $1,039,789.53. Following the sale, the director directly owned 61,630 shares in the company, valued at $4,753,521.90. This trade represents a 17.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,044,865 shares of company stock worth $81,397,635. 0.01% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.