SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

SC&H Financial Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,335 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 205 shares during the period. Apple comprises approximately 1.4% of SC&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. SC&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AAPL. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% during the 4th quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after buying an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its stake in shares of Apple by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Tigress Financial upped their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Apple Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of AAPL opened at $247.66 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $238.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 approximately $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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.