Foster & Motley Inc. Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Foster & Motley Inc. reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 252,747 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,934 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 3.7% of Foster & Motley Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $53,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Access Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in Apple by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at about $206,000. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Sequent Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $214,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total value of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares in the company, valued at $39,542,136.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,275. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $235.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $225.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $261.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Cfra increased their price objective on Apple from $240.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.27.

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.