JPB Foundation Sells 171,000 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

JPB Foundation lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 850,737 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 171,000 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 19.2% of JPB Foundation’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position. JPB Foundation’s holdings in Apple were worth $179,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Apple by 17.9% during the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 31,278 shares in the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $1,958,850.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Apple to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of AAPL opened at $224.23 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.88, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $164.07 and a 1 year high of $237.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.68.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The firm had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 16.45%.

About Apple

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.