Emerald Advisers LLC Has $3.56 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Emerald Advisers LLC decreased its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 17,365 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,733 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baker Boyer National Bank increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% during the second quarter. Baker Boyer National Bank now owns 18,011 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,695,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Salus Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $291,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Red Tortoise LLC now owns 5,717 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,173,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. SigFig Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.8% during the second quarter. SigFig Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,830 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shariaportfolio Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Apple by 1.3% during the second quarter. Shariaportfolio Inc. now owns 3,999 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $820,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAPL shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Melius increased their target price on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Monness Crespi & Hardt lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, CLSA upgraded Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Apple presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $278.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $271.23, for a total transaction of $1,017,654.96. Following the transaction, the insider owned 15,098 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $278.63 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1 year low of $169.21 and a 1 year high of $280.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.28, 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 current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $263.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $231.72.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were 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 was Monday, November 10th. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 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.