Winch Advisory Services LLC Trims Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Winch Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 115,505 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,438 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 6.8% of Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $25,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in Apple during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,877,000. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its holdings in Apple by 24.6% during the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $217.00 price target on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $237.37.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $229.72 on Wednesday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.86, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $216.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $212.75.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.