Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. Sells 156 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,147 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 156 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 0.8% of Praetorian Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sawyer & Company Inc grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sawyer & Company Inc now owns 52,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,743,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Intelligence Driven Advisers LLC now owns 73,767 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $15,135,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 18.1% in the 2nd quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 20,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,211,000 after acquiring an additional 3,144 shares in the last quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 94,963 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $19,484,000 after acquiring an additional 3,622 shares during the period. Finally, Central Valley Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Central Valley Advisors LLC now owns 48,606 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $9,973,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $266.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $244.66.

Apple Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of AAPL opened at $252.31 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.