Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 43,290 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 599,996 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 43,290 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.1% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $126,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Apple by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.7% in the second quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $175,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Sage Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 60.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total value of $50,275,897.56. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,125 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,223,062.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.3 %

AAPL opened at $235.86 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $164.07 and a fifty-two week high of $237.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $226.46 and its 200 day moving average is $209.33.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The iPhone maker reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $85.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.43 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 147.15% and a net margin of 26.44%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Raymond James increased their target price on Apple from $200.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $239.27.

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.