Alps Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 25.4% during the third quarter, according to its latest 13F filing with the SEC. The fund sold 74,193 shares, leaving it with 217,661 shares valued at $23,427,000. Other institutional investors made significant moves as well. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake worth $42,129,647,000, while State Street Corp increased its holdings by 7.0%, now owning 207,106,569 shares valued at $25,278,492,000. Bank of America Corp DE and UBS AM also boosted their positions, with new stakes valued at $5,892,379,000 and $5,103,654,000, respectively. Institutional investors collectively own 73.33% of Cisco's stock.
Cisco recently received positive sentiment from ABI Research, being named a leader in open line systems for data-center interconnects, a market growing due to AI-driven expansion. The company also expanded its partner and cloud offerings, including AI-focused tools, which could support recurring revenue. However, Morgan Stanley downgraded Cisco from Overweight to Equal Weight, citing concerns that faster AI-infrastructure growth could pressure gross margins and earnings in fiscal 2028. This downgrade coincided with broader selling in AI-infrastructure and networking stocks, pushing Cisco's shares below their 200-day moving average.
Cisco's stock opened at $93.85 on Friday, with a 50-day moving average of $108.82 and a 200-day moving average of $101.63. The company has a market capitalization of $370.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.10, and a beta of 1.01. Analysts have set an average price target of $127.87, with opinions ranging from Strong Buy to Hold. Cisco's next earnings report is scheduled for November 12, with options traders anticipating a significant move around the results.
Insider activity included CEO Charles Robbins selling 21,628 shares at $111.54 each, totaling $2,412,387.12, and EVP Oliver Tuszik selling 680 shares at $110.18 each, totaling $74,922.40. Both transactions were executed under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,869 shares valued at $5,005,620.