Capstone Capital LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Capstone Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,270 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 217 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.5% of Capstone Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Capstone Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $671,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in 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. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Apple by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651,321 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $256.69 on Tuesday. 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 market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average is $233.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $214.96. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were given 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 (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $247.49.

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.