Affiance Financial LLC Decreases Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Affiance Financial LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,844 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,219 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 1.9% of Affiance Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Affiance Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $255.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $228.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $213.22.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AAPL. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.66.

Apple 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.