MBA Advisors LLC Sells 2,500 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

MBA Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,021 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,500 shares during the period. Apple comprises 1.6% of MBA Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. MBA Advisors LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AAPL. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.5% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,184,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the first quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $892,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Virginia Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 20,946 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,298,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price target (up previously from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $252.29 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $241.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $216.81. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $260.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.28, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion for 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%.Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

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.