Apple Inc. $AAPL is Sapient Capital LLC’s 4th Largest Position

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,385,768 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 14,480 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 5.1% of Sapient Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $284,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after purchasing an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total value of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Phillip Securities lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $244.66.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $252.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 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. The business’s fifty day moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day moving average is $212.78. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

About Apple

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.