Santori & Peters Inc. Cuts Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Santori & Peters Inc. lowered its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,903 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Apple makes up about 0.7% of Santori & Peters Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Santori & Peters Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Ryan Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Apple during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

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 completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% 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 over the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAPL shares. Moffett Nathanson raised shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Melius Research set a $290.00 price target on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Three 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, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $247.49.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $256.48 on Wednesday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $234.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $215.25. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.