Taurus Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Taurus Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 320,555 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,750 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 6.8% of Taurus Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Taurus Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $67,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bellwether Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Apple by 387.3% during the second quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 24,349 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $5,128,000 after purchasing an additional 19,352 shares in the last quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $876,000. WT Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $80,057,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised 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 worth $3,526,874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,557,848 shares during the period. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $11,776,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $222.91 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.93, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.24. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $227.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.03. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $164.07 and a 52 week high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 26.44% and a return on equity of 147.15%. Apple’s revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 6.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “buy” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $220.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $236.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $39,542,136.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Apple news, insider Chris Kondo sold 5,178 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,223,062.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.44, for a total transaction of $20,644,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 191,543 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,542,136.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 517,924 shares of company stock valued at $114,786,399. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

About Apple

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.