Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 11,006 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,004,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,006 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 6.8% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $211,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth about $35,000. A.P. Gilfoyle & Co. L.P. acquired a new position in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. increased its position in Apple by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Managment Co. now owns 424 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its position in Apple by 100.6% in the fourth quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 483 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 83,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Erste Group Bank raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $285.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $237.30.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $229.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 35.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $221.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $195.48. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.23.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 145.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.55%.

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.