Spreng Capital Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Spreng Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,001 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.0% of Spreng Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Spreng Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,913,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Baker Boyer National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,695,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Red Tortoise LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 0.9% in the second quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Apple by 2.8% during the second quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Melius Research set a $345.00 price objective on Apple in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $272.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $255.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $226.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $277.32.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.