Waycross Investment Management Co Decreases Stock Position in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Waycross Investment Management Co trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 46.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,986 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,275 shares during the period. Apple makes up 1.1% of Waycross Investment Management Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Waycross Investment Management Co’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $39,065,374,000 after buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in 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 grew its holdings in 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 worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring 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

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $230.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $290.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $255.49.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was 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. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,373.35. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 over the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $269.70 on Thursday. 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 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $271.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $246.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $221.19. The company has a market capitalization of $4.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.93, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS 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.