Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Trimmed by Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.

Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD. lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,119 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,439 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.8% of Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Whitaker Myers Wealth Managers LTD.’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Apple in a research report on Monday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $241.93.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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

Apple Stock Performance

AAPL opened at $237.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $223.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $212.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.