Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Stake Reduced by ETF Store Inc.

ETF Store Inc. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,587 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 293 shares during the period. ETF Store Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 387.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after buying an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in Apple during the 2nd quarter worth $80,057,000. Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $11,776,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 10.3% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 16,745,201 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,526,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 62.0% during the second quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 151,991 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $32,012,000 after purchasing an additional 58,153 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.50, for a total value of $1,121,037.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. This represents 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 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $236.48 on Tuesday. 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 one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $226.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.86. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.55%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $236.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $239.27.

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.