Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Little House Capital LLC

Little House Capital LLC decreased its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 87,541 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 8,944 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 4.5% of Little House Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,961,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the 1st 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 period. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter valued at $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $240.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $242.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $245.50 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $224.35 and its 200-day moving average is $212.10. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. 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 company has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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