WealthCare Investment Partners LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

WealthCare Investment Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,571 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,491 shares during the period. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Sinecera Capital LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. Sinecera Capital LLC now owns 9,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% in the second quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 41,917 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,828,000 after acquiring an additional 519 shares during the last quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Apple by 8.2% in the second quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 58,784 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,381,000 after acquiring an additional 4,450 shares during the last quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hofer & Associates. Inc now owns 23,921 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,038,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Apple by 7.4% in the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 395,159 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $83,228,000 after acquiring an additional 27,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 2.8 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $216.32 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.23. The company has a market cap of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $199.00.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,884 shares of company stock worth $23,723,887 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Apple from $195.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective on the stock. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Apple from $187.00 to $186.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.17.

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.