Delphi Management Inc. MA Lowers Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Delphi Management Inc. MA reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,679 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 143 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.2% of Delphi Management Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Delphi Management Inc. MA’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Marmo Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 56.5% during the 1st quarter. Marmo Financial Group LLC now owns 1,681 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,763 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $834,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 5.7% in the first quarter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 63,356 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,391 shares during the period. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.6% during the first quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 104,140 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $17,858,000 after buying an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 127.4% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 75,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,943,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. UBS Group boosted their price target on Apple to $236.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Apple to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,416,137.76. This represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock valued at $91,062,512 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 1.4 %

AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $164.07 and a 12 month high of $237.49. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $227.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $215.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.01, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.