Apple Inc. $AAPL is Centered Wealth LLC dba Miller Equity Capital Advisors’ 2nd Largest Position

Centered Wealth LLC dba Miller Equity Capital Advisors cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 92.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,180 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 15,070 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 18.1% of Centered Wealth LLC dba Miller Equity Capital Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Centered Wealth LLC dba Miller Equity Capital Advisors’ holdings in Apple were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Apple by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after purchasing an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Apple by 23,555.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,055,240 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,272,653,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966,232 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital lowered their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Apple from $235.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.98.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $224.90 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 34.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $211.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.13.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Apple declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the iPhone maker to repurchase up to 3.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.