Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Sells 4,595 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 267,774 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,595 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.1% of Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $54,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651,321 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Bank of America increased their price target on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $205.82 to $205.16 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Apple Price Performance

AAPL stock opened at $247.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $239.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $216.26. The stock has a market cap 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 company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released 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. 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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 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%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,922 shares of company stock worth $64,320,190. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple 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.