Prospect Hill Management LLC Trims Stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Prospect Hill Management LLC cut its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 513,821 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 298 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for about 59.4% of Prospect Hill Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Prospect Hill Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $108,221,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Unison Asset Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Unison Asset Management LLC now owns 29,002 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,108,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC increased its position in Apple by 17.6% in the second quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 41,584 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,758,000 after buying an additional 6,218 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in Apple by 2.8% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 22,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,762,000 after buying an additional 611 shares during the period. Lowery Thomas LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.7% in the second quarter. Lowery Thomas LLC now owns 7,607 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,602,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC increased its position in Apple by 3.9% in the second quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 6,542 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,378,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Loop Capital raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $170.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Monday, July 15th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI reissued a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 26th. UBS Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $239.27.

Apple Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $235.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $164.07 and a 1-year high of $237.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $225.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total transaction of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total transaction of $13,550,347.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock worth $114,786,399. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Company 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.