Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 50 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $886,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $245.50 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $212.42. The company has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $242.74.

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.