Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Holdings Cut by Ithaka Group LLC

Ithaka Group LLC trimmed its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,633 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,802 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 4.3% of Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $23,091,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $214,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 489,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $111,148,695.84. This trade represents 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, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents 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. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $111,148,695.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 417,924 shares of company stock valued at $94,142,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on AAPL. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Apple from $186.00 to $184.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Apple to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $236.23.

Apple Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $222.91 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $164.07 and a 12-month high of $237.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $227.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 145.09% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

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.