Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $3.81 Million in Cisco Systems, Inc. $CSCO

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 32,438 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,810,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Networth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cisco Systems by 276.4% during the 1st quarter. Networth Advisors LLC now owns 335 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in Cisco Systems in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cisco Systems by 137.0% in the first quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 346 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Citic Securities raised their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $90.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. CICC Research boosted their price target on Cisco Systems from $96.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Zacks Research downgraded Cisco Systems from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $132.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cisco Systems has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.43.

Key Cisco Systems News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Cisco launched a Sovereign Critical Infrastructure portfolio in Canada and expanded its Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA and Supermicro. The offerings target enterprises, neocloud providers and sovereign-cloud customers seeking integrated AI compute, cooling and networking infrastructure. Cisco Unveils Sovereign and AI Infrastructure Offerings
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley maintained a $135 price target, citing Cisco’s potential supply advantage through TSMC as shortages continue to affect the AI infrastructure market. This supports the view that Cisco may be positioned to benefit from strong AI networking demand. Morgan Stanley Reveals Cisco’s Supply Edge
• Positive Sentiment: Cisco’s NVIDIA partnership is also linked to the industry’s shift toward liquid-cooled, high-density AI systems, potentially expanding the company’s role in the broader AI infrastructure buildout. NVIDIA’s AI Chips and Liquid Cooling
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts comparing Cisco with Hewlett Packard Enterprise highlighted Cisco’s strong hyperscaler AI orders, networking growth and expanding security business as long-term competitive advantages. HPE vs. CSCO
• Neutral Sentiment: Cisco gave all approximately 90,000 employees access to personal AI agents, demonstrating broad internal adoption of AI, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Cisco Gives Employees AI Agents
• Negative Sentiment: A growth-stock analysis questioned whether Cisco can sustain enough growth to support its premium valuation, reviving concerns that enthusiasm surrounding AI networking may have outpaced underlying fundamentals. With a P/E ratio above 30, the stock may be particularly sensitive to any slowdown in growth expectations. Growth Stock Analysis

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Thimaya K. Subaiya sold 7,127 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.91, for a total value of $854,598.57. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 140,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,890,162.87. This represents a 4.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Deborah L. Stahlkopf sold 6,487 shares of Cisco Systems stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.53, for a total value of $723,495.11. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 167,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,638,447.48. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,611 shares of company stock worth $6,066,680. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

NASDAQ:CSCO opened at $109.93 on Friday. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.13 and a 52-week high of $130.37. The company has a market cap of $433.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.24.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The network equipment provider reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.17 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $17.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.84 billion. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 30.16% and a net margin of 20.95%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Cisco Systems’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.30%.

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.