Apple Inc. $AAPL is Evanson Asset Management LLC’s 5th Largest Position

Evanson Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 18.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 340,073 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 76,522 shares during the period. Apple comprises 4.5% of Evanson Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Evanson Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $69,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Apple by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 340,164,913 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $84,999,145,000 after purchasing an additional 6,307,413 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on AAPL shares. 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 stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.49.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $256.69 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average is $233.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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