MA Private Wealth Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

MA Private Wealth lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,756 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 358 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 0.6% of MA Private Wealth’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. MA Private Wealth’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its position in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at about $208,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $235.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The company has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $225.78 and its 200-day moving average is $208.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value 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 $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Cfra lifted their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.27.

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.