SWS Partners Sells 2,525 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

SWS Partners decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 41.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,640 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,525 shares during the period. SWS Partners’ holdings in Apple were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Salus Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% in the 1st 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. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 2nd 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. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $247.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $216.66. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents 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 valued at $64,320,190. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AAPL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

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.