Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by BSW Wealth Partners

BSW Wealth Partners trimmed its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,870 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,153 shares during the period. Apple accounts for 2.7% of BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. BSW Wealth Partners’ holdings in Apple were worth $19,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Apple by 25,934.1% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Apple by 13.3% during 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. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Apple by 27.4% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Monness Crespi & Hardt boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $205.82 to $205.16 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.47.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $262.77 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $242.49 and its 200-day moving average is $217.74. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $265.29.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for 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 was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last three months. 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.