Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is Paulson Wealth Management Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Paulson Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,990 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,028 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 6.6% of Paulson Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Paulson Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $24,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Bull Oak Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 252.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bull Oak Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in Apple by 88.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the third quarter valued at about $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. increased its position in Apple by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $228.87, for a total transaction of $945,233.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,528,946.53. This represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total transaction of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $97,474,301.68. This trade represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Apple from $261.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Apple to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, December 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.85.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $229.98 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $230.79.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

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.