Paragon Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Paragon Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,128 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Paragon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bull Oak Capital LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its holdings in Apple by 88.9% in the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 306 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $110,000. Finally, Cordant Inc. grew its holdings in Apple by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cordant Inc. now owns 678 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 4,130 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $3,528,946.53. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.97, for a total value of $24,997,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 389,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,474,301.68. This represents a 20.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $222.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $240.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $230.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $253.00 target price (down previously from $256.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer restated a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Apple from $286.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Maxim Group lifted their target price on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $238.05.

About Apple

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.