ERn Financial LLC Sells 21,420 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

ERn Financial LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 50.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,715 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 21,420 shares during the period. ERn Financial LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Alpine Bank Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.5% in the second quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 23,739 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,871,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.6% in the second quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 51,236 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $10,512,000 after buying an additional 284 shares during the period. R.H. Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.1% in the second quarter. R.H. Investment Group LLC now owns 21,725 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $4,457,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Generate Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 1.4% in the second quarter. Generate Investment Management Ltd now owns 184,657 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $37,886,000 after buying an additional 2,497 shares during the period. Finally, Greenbush Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.3% in the second quarter. Greenbush Financial Group LLC now owns 13,297 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $2,728,000 after buying an additional 419 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $249.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.84, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $240.12 and a 200-day moving average of $216.49. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $248.29.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.