Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. Buys 594 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,947 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 594 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.1% of Praetorian Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Praetorian Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Hershey Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP grew its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Sage Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $206,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Apple Stock Up 1.3 %

AAPL opened at $228.02 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $227.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $217.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital cut their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

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.