Westhampton Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Westhampton Capital LLC lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,829 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 60 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 9.2% of Westhampton Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Westhampton Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $17,815,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $311,157,662,000 after buying an additional 5,005,297 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its position in Apple by 573,627.2% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $26,220,566,000 after buying an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Apple by 1.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,790,933,000 after buying an additional 984,157 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $252.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.74 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $241.13 and a 200 day moving average of $216.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction 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. The trade was 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 this hyperlink. Also, 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on AAPL. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 target price (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Four equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $248.29.

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.