Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. Sells 659 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. cut its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,945 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 659 shares during the period. Apple comprises about 3.4% of Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C.’s holdings in Apple were worth $5,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 valued at $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its position in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew 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 valued at $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Melius Research set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.83.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $268.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. 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 50-day simple moving average of $244.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.14. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $169.21 and a 52 week high of $269.12.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid 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 15.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% 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 over the last quarter. Company 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.