Quarry LP Reduces Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Quarry LP reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 99.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 265 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 100,029 shares during the period. Quarry LP’s holdings in Apple were worth $56,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FCG Investment Co lifted its holdings in Apple by 8.1% in the first quarter. FCG Investment Co now owns 47,600 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,162,000 after acquiring an additional 3,582 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at about $19,951,000. Marshall Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 51,741 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,873,000 after buying an additional 522 shares in the last quarter. Whelan Financial raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 8.8% during the first quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 20,935 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 2.2% in the first quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 38,444 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $6,592,000 after acquiring an additional 837 shares in the last quarter. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total value of $13,433,768.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This trade represents a 35.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Jeffrey E. Williams sold 59,730 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.86, for a total value of $13,550,347.80. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 489,944 shares in the company, valued at $111,148,695.84. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $225.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $164.07 and a twelve month high of $237.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $226.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Moffett Nathanson initiated coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, August 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $211.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Apple from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, twenty-two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.