Financial Avengers Inc. Reduces Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Financial Avengers Inc. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 94,849 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,043 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 9.0% of Financial Avengers Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Financial Avengers Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $19,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AAPL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Apple by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,415,932,804 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $290,506,933,000 after buying an additional 15,141,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Apple by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 354,749,794 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $72,506,336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,942,638 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 205,692,660 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in shares of Apple by 14.3% in the 4th 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 worth $26,220,566,000 after acquiring an additional 13,137,968 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on AAPL shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Melius upped their price objective on shares of Apple from $290.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Apple from $275.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $325.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Apple in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.51.

Apple Stock Up 0.6%

Apple stock opened at $278.78 on Thursday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $288.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $267.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $235.90.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.11. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The firm had revenue of $102.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

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.