Paragon Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Paragon Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,118 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 567 shares during the quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Family Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,910 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA boosted its stake in Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 16,682 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,178,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,992,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,794,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on shares of Apple to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Apple from $290.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $170.62 to $188.32 in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.27.

Apple Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $211.16 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $203.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $217.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.20. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $95.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.04 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 167.24% and a net margin of 24.30%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.20%.

Apple announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,486 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.19, for a total transaction of $933,940.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 15,533 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,233,815.27. This trade represents a 22.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,570 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.00, for a total transaction of $941,420.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 4,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $941,214. This represents a 50.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, personal computers, tablets, wearables, and accessories worldwide. The company offers iPhone, a line of smartphones; Mac, a line of personal computers; iPad, a line of multi-purpose tablets; and wearables, home, and accessories comprising AirPods, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats products, and HomePod.