Dash Acquisitions Inc. Sells 13,168 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Dash Acquisitions Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 39.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,880 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 13,168 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 0.9% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Apple during the 1st quarter worth $17,472,482,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Apple by 13.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Amundi lifted 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 worth $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 14.3% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on AAPL. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $250.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $278.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. This trade represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Apple Price Performance

Apple stock opened at $272.95 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $255.27 and its 200 day moving average is $226.41. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $277.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 41.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.08. 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 (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Investors of record on Monday, November 10th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple’s payout ratio is presently 13.92%.

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.