Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 76,353 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,318,064,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $253,766,929,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067,216 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $33,912,466,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,096,360 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 54,702,300 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,531,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Apple by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,146,325 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,369,852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 458,619 shares of company stock valued at $101,352,630. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Melius Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Piper Sandler Companies reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective (up from $190.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $238.76.

Apple Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 35.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $222.72 and a 200-day moving average of $203.50.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.7 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. 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 is currently 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.