Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 29,700 Shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 55.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,520 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 29,700 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $1,812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Cisco Systems News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Truist initiated/raised coverage on Cisco with a buy/strong‑buy stance and set a $94 price target (roughly 21% upside from recent levels), which likely drove investor buying and improved sentiment. Truist Initiates Coverage Benzinga: Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco expanded its technology narrative with a memorandum to explore quantum networking with Atom Computing — this positions Cisco beyond classical networking into distributed quantum infrastructure, a potential long‑term growth vector for its high‑margin software and services. Cisco & Atom Computing
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor commentary asks whether the recent pullback leaves Cisco attractively priced — pieces reviewing valuation and multi‑year returns may encourage longer‑term buyers but don’t change fundamentals immediately. Valuation Commentary
• Neutral Sentiment: Arista’s margin gains on AI networking highlight competitive pressure and the scale benefits of hyperscaler exposure — a sector development investors should watch relative to Cisco’s competitive positioning. Arista Margin Story
• Negative Sentiment: Reports tied Cisco to a contained cyberattack linked to a recent Trivy breach; even if contained, security incidents increase scrutiny and can weigh on near‑term sentiment. Cyberattack Report
• Negative Sentiment: Rising Middle East tensions and a statement from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatening Western tech firms have pressured the sector and contributed to market weakness that can pull on Cisco shares. Geopolitical Risk
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/market headlines: Nasdaq and S&P declines tied to the Middle East escalation pressured tech stocks broadly and contributed to recent Cisco weakness on pullbacks. Market Reaction

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of several research reports. CICC Research raised their price objective on Cisco Systems from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial started coverage on Cisco Systems in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Erste Group Bank lowered Cisco Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Evercore raised shares of Cisco Systems from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $80.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cisco Systems in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.76.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CSCO opened at $77.59 on Wednesday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.11 and a 1-year high of $88.18. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $79.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $306.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The network equipment provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $15.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.11 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 19.22%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 3.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Cisco Systems’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.54%.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, EVP Oliver Tuszik sold 3,132 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.74, for a total value of $249,745.68. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 188,613 shares in the company, valued at $15,040,000.62. This trade represents a 1.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 19,545 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $1,485,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 671,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,003,220. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 46,431 shares of company stock valued at $3,574,820 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

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.