Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,517 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 7.5% of Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,390,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter worth $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth $63,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter valued at $58,000. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.49.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president 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 sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $258.02 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.09. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $233.09 and a 200 day moving average of $214.69.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 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.