Aspire Capital Advisors LLC Sells 92 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Aspire Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.4% 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 21,680 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 1.2% of Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,448,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after acquiring an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on AAPL. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $247.49.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’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 transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL opened at $256.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $234.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $215.25. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

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. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 15.78%.

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.