Sierra Capital LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Sierra Capital LLC trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 81,169 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,471 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 2.5% of Sierra Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 53.3% in the second quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 21,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,247,000 after purchasing an additional 7,616 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Apple by 8.3% in the first quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 785,000 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $129,447,000 after purchasing an additional 60,000 shares in the last quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 26,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,399,000 after purchasing an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 22.2% in the second quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.3% during the first quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 3,919,534 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $646,332,000 after acquiring an additional 89,615 shares during the period. 58.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Apple from $198.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Apple from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on Apple from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Apple in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.25.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $189.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $180.53. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $124.17 and a 52 week high of $198.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.30.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 2nd. The iPhone maker reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. Apple had a return on equity of 160.78% and a net margin of 25.31%. The firm had revenue of $89.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 16th. Investors of record on Monday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 10th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 240,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total value of $41,498,152.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $565,809,142.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 240,569 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.50, for a total value of $41,498,152.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 3,280,053 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $565,809,142.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 32,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.89, for a total value of $5,694,258.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 139,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,788,259.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 444,391 shares of company stock valued at $77,370,046 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.