Apple Inc. $AAPL is Somerville Kurt F’s 3rd Largest Position

Somerville Kurt F lessened its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 133,020 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,702 shares during the quarter. Apple accounts for approximately 4.6% of Somerville Kurt F’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Somerville Kurt F’s holdings in Apple were worth $27,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 2.5% in the second quarter. Proffitt & Goodson Inc. now owns 20,589 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $4,224,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO raised its holdings in Apple by 10.1% in the second quarter. Cortland Associates Inc. MO now owns 29,647 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $6,083,000 after buying an additional 2,710 shares during the last quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 103,479 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $21,231,000 after acquiring an additional 14,705 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 216,408 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $44,401,000 after acquiring an additional 6,543 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,488 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,331,000 after acquiring an additional 860 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $276.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This represents a 32.39% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Apple stock opened at $270.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 41.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $277.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $248.34 and a 200 day moving average of $222.01.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The company had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.