Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Shares Sold by Rice Hall James & Associates LLC

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,510 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,026,492,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 14,145.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 7,612,261 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,603,000 after buying an additional 7,558,826 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in Apple by 158.3% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 11,532,438 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,977,582,000 after buying an additional 7,067,379 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 161.2% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 8,759,445 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,502,068,000 after buying an additional 5,405,542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its stake in Apple by 127.7% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 4,632,987 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $794,465,000 after buying an additional 2,598,742 shares during the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Maxim Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $203.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Melius Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $235.91.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $233.40 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $227.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $211.05. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results 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. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.55%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.