Paragon Capital Management Ltd Reduces Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Paragon Capital Management Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,184 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,039 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.7% of Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Loop Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of AAPL opened at $245.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $237.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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