Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. decreased its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,410,379 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 198,800 shares during the period. Apple makes up 4.6% of Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.09% of Apple worth $2,751,407,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC increased its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Apple during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,942,255,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Apple during the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. PKS Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Apple by 98,917.0% during the second quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 57,956,620 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $12,106,000 after purchasing an additional 57,898,088 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Apple by 20,464.8% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 27,069,029 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $5,553,753,000 after purchasing an additional 26,937,401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ AAPL opened at $278.28 on Friday. Apple Inc. has a 1-year low of $169.21 and a 1-year high of $288.62. The company has a 50 day moving average of $268.24 and a 200-day moving average of $236.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $4.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.64 EPS. Apple’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on AAPL shares. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Apple from $270.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Apple from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating and set a $200.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have assigned 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.51.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Chris Kondo sold 3,752 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 15,098 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,030.54. This represents a 19.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 228,052 shares of company stock valued at $58,604,588 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.