Grimes & Company Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Grimes & Company Inc. reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 433,658 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 3,956 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up about 2.4% of Grimes & Company Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $88,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 0.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Apple by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 984,157 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $268.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $244.91 and a 200-day moving average of $220.14. The company has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $269.12.

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

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $252.83.

Insider Activity at Apple

In related news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the firm’s 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 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.