Paragon Financial Partners Inc. Trims Stake in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)

Paragon Financial Partners Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,871 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock after selling 1,800 shares during the period. Cisco Systems makes up 0.5% of Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. Paragon Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Cisco Systems were worth $644,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Albion Financial Group UT grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 158,815 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,402,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 44,544 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,637,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,317 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cisco Systems by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,299,562 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock valued at $136,134,000 after purchasing an additional 339,393 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cisco Systems by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 21,743 shares of the network equipment provider’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. 73.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Richard Scott Herren sold 86,351 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.49, for a total transaction of $4,964,318.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 365,314 shares in the company, valued at $21,001,901.86. This trade represents a 19.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristina M. Johnson sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.87, for a total value of $449,025.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 65,915 shares in the company, valued at $3,946,331.05. This represents a 10.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 353,522 shares of company stock valued at $20,349,721. Corporate insiders own 0.01% of the company’s stock.

Cisco Systems Price Performance

CSCO opened at $61.63 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $58.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $53.81. Cisco Systems, Inc. has a 12-month low of $44.50 and a 12-month high of $61.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $245.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.45, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.84.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The network equipment provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.04. Cisco Systems had a return on equity of 25.70% and a net margin of 17.73%. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.78 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Cisco Systems’s revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cisco Systems, Inc. will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Cisco Systems Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Cisco Systems’s payout ratio is 68.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CSCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Melius raised Cisco Systems from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Cisco Systems from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.50.

Cisco Systems Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.