Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV Has $2.59 Million Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,667 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 760 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.6% of Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,260,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $1,794,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Melius Research set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $242.16.

Apple Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $226.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.41, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $220.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $212.60. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Company 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.