Prakash Investment Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Prakash Investment Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,381 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 5.9% of Prakash Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Prakash Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $6,749,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the first quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% during the first quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 209.2% during the first quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plum Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 4.0% during the first quarter. Plum Street Advisors LLC now owns 7,889 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

AAPL opened at $258.06 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $235.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $215.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.83 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.16, 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.