Crane Advisory LLC Cuts Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Crane Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 79,397 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 16,139 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 2.8% of Crane Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Crane Advisory LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after acquiring an additional 14,651,321 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $245.27 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $237.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $215.83. 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 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value 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. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company 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.