RFP Financial Group LLC Has $17.57 Million Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

RFP Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 83,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,220 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 6.5% of RFP Financial Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. RFP Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $253,766,929,000 after buying an additional 18,067,216 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Apple by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 60,651,275 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,677,190,000 after buying an additional 2,096,360 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after buying an additional 1,067,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Apple by 7.1% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,369,852,000 after buying an additional 2,474,887 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AAPL. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Maxim Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $203.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.76.

Apple Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $227.79 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $222.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $202.16. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23. The stock has a market cap of $3.49 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,884 shares of company stock valued at $23,723,887. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.