Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Bill Few Associates Inc.

Bill Few Associates Inc. cut its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,161 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,067 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 5.2% of Bill Few Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $18,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its position in Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Apple by 14.3% during the 4th 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $300.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Melius boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $278.22.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Apple stock opened at $268.47 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $277.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $252.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $224.85. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 224,300 shares of company stock worth $57,586,933 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.