Apple Inc. $AAPL Stock Position Decreased by E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. trimmed its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 12.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,819 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 412 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up 0.6% of E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Apple were worth $578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its position in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Apple in the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Apple in the first quarter worth approximately $99,000. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on AAPL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Apple from $298.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research report on Friday. Moffett Nathanson raised Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Melius Research set a $345.00 price objective on Apple in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $277.52.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 8,765 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $269.05 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve 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 has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 40.83, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $249.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $222.85.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 10th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is 13.92%.

Apple Company 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.