Auxier Asset Management Sells 46 Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Auxier Asset Management cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,940 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 46 shares during the quarter. Auxier Asset Management’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 17.9% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 206,455 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 31,278 shares during the last quarter. Access Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth approximately $140,000. Hoese & Co LLP raised its stake in Apple by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 912 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Sage Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the 2nd quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Benchmark Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Apple during the second quarter worth $208,000. 60.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “overweight” rating and set a $265.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $256.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Apple from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Maxim Group boosted their price target on Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $235.51.

Apple Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $226.96 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $226.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $214.03.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $94.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.52 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 152.94% and a net margin of 23.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Chris Kondo sold 8,706 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,275. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Luca Maestri sold 59,305 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.52, for a total transaction of $13,433,768.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,416,137.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 412,746 shares of company stock valued at $93,021,362. 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.