Lincoln Capital Corp Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Lincoln Capital Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,249 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,945 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.4% of Lincoln Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Lincoln Capital Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. 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 worth $349,532,608,000 after purchasing 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 worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Apple in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set 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 assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $244.66.

Insider Transactions at Apple

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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. The trade was a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $252.31 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.29, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s fifty day moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day moving average is $212.78. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business 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 was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.