WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,127 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 518 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 1.9% of WestHill Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $9,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Apple by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 3.2%

Apple stock opened at $245.50 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $224.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were given 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 yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on AAPL. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $270.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Apple from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $242.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.