Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by BTC Capital Management Inc.

BTC Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 209,639 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,617 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 3.5% of BTC Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. BTC Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $42,953,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the 1st quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $245.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $254.63 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $230.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $213.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.11. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 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.