Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,805 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Apple accounts for approximately 1.0% of Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Sentinel Pension Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during 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 buying an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.51.

Apple Stock Up 0.7%

Apple stock opened at $257.13 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $232.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.38.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced 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%.Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 15.78%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm’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 value of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.