Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC Trims Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,153 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 341 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.3% of Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position. Sprinkle Financial Consultants LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,083,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Conquis Financial LLC bought a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. HSBC set a $220.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Two equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.51.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

AAPL opened at $254.63 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 trillion, a PE 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $230.51 and a 200-day moving average of $213.80. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 presently 15.78%.

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.