LVZ Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

LVZ Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,492 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 637 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 0.6% of LVZ Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. LVZ Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covea Finance raised its position in Apple by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Covea Finance now owns 668,609 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $137,179,000 after purchasing an additional 13,410 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management raised its position in Apple by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Unified Investment Management now owns 7,184 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,474,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC raised its position in Apple by 117.4% in the 2nd quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC now owns 55,282 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $11,342,000 after purchasing an additional 29,851 shares in the last quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Apple by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,337 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Investment Center Inc. raised its position in Apple by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. Family Investment Center Inc. now owns 8,736 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,792,000 after purchasing an additional 924 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Up 0.3%

Apple stock opened at $258.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $260.10. The company has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $233.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $214.69.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s payout ratio is 15.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Barclays increased their price target on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $266.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $247.49.

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.