Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Founders Capital Management LLC

Founders Capital Management LLC lessened its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 9.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 76,222 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 7,873 shares during the period. Apple comprises 2.7% of Founders Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Founders Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $205.16 target price (down from $205.82) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their target price on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.49.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $258.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $233.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.