Front Street Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Front Street Capital Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,397 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 376 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.3% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $7,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Granite Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC now owns 289,421 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $60,958,000 after acquiring an additional 7,606 shares during the period. Bellwether Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 387.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares during the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at about $876,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 920,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $193,926,000 after buying an additional 8,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WT Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter valued at $80,057,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,275. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock worth $93,021,362. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Melius Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Maxim Group raised their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $224.23 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $226.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $214.68. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.