Apple Inc. $AAPL is Oak Asset Management LLC’s Largest Position

Oak Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 147,042 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,590 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for 10.8% of Oak Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Oak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $30,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,413 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,868,648,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL opened at $254.63 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $230.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $213.80. The company has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. 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 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Loop Capital reduced their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. 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. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $245.51.

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.