Van Strum & Towne Inc. Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Van Strum & Towne Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson lifted its position in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

AAPL stock opened at $268.47 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $252.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $224.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $277.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 224,300 shares of company stock valued at $57,586,933 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Phillip Securities lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued 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 $278.22.

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.