Apple Inc. $AAPL Stake Decreased by Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC

Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,656 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,645 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.8% of Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $11,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Headland Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 2.5% in the second quarter. Headland Capital LLC now owns 42,046 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $8,626,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares in the last quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.1% in the second quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 968,705 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $198,749,000 after buying an additional 28,929 shares in the last quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 6.3% in the second quarter. PUREfi Wealth LLC now owns 15,562 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,193,000 after buying an additional 927 shares in the last quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.5% in the second quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 170,785 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $35,040,000 after buying an additional 5,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 30.1% in the second quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 348,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $71,430,000 after buying an additional 80,607 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of AAPL stock opened at $269.00 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $245.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $220.69. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $269.89.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on AAPL. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Moffett Nathanson upgraded shares of Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Apple has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.76.

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.