Lakewood Asset Management LLC Has $3.36 Million Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Lakewood Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,397 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,359 shares during the period. Apple accounts for about 2.2% of Lakewood Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Lakewood Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC boosted its position in Apple by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,184,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 20,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,298,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. CLSA upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Phillip Securities cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $247.66 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $238.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.04. 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 PE ratio of 37.58, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm 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 revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.