Altus Wealth Management LLC Sells 5,255 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Altus Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 62.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,165 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 5,255 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.3% of Altus Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Altus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $649,000 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. First National Bank of Hutchinson increased its stake in shares of Apple by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 35,319 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $8,845,000 after buying an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 54,085 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,544,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Apple by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 537,314 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $134,554,000 after purchasing an additional 69,207 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Apple by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 66,857 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its position in Apple by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 50,264 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $12,587,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on AAPL. Phillip Securities lowered Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. HSBC set a $220.00 price objective on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Four 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

Apple Trading Up 0.0%

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $239.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.26.

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 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 business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $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.