Lakeside Advisors INC. Reduces Stake in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Lakeside Advisors INC. lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 16.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,475 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 1.1% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in Apple were worth $1,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Salus Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC raised its stake in Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $1,173,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $368,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. raised its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sharpepoint LLC raised its stake in Apple by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $322,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on Apple and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Apple from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $276.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Apple news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were 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 directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $270.37 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $277.32. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $248.34 and its 200-day moving average is $222.15.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

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.