Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by James Hambro & Partners LLP

James Hambro & Partners LLP lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 44.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,633 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,071 shares during the period. James Hambro & Partners LLP’s holdings in Apple were worth $540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Burkett Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Burkett Financial Services LLC now owns 14,401 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,199,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Avid Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,211 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $935,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the period. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $40,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the period. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 209.2% in the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $247.66 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 $3.68 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $238.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.04. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein began 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.