Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 558,167 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 11,167 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.5% of J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $117,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 387.3% in the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after acquiring an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter worth $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.3% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $11,776,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Raymond James boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Maxim Group lifted their price objective on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $236.23.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $222.91 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $164.07 and a 52-week high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $227.18 and a 200-day moving average of $212.03. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.22%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 over the last ninety days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.