Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Lessened by D.B. Root & Company LLC

D.B. Root & Company LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 41,362 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 446 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 2.5% of D.B. Root & Company LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $8,486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 13.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Apple by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after acquiring an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 14.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total value of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. The trade was a 32.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on AAPL. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their target price on Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.49.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $269.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $246.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.19. Apple Inc. has a 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $271.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS 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 company had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.