VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. Sells 200 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. reduced its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,840 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises about 1.3% of VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $2,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Apple in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $268.81 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $269.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $244.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.14. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.79, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. 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 over the last quarter. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $252.83.

Apple 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.