Castleark Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Castleark Management LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 393,216 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 210,435 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.4% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $80,676,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AAPL. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. raised its position in Apple by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Futures Ltd Liability Co. now owns 3,552 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bell & Brown Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 62,001 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Apple by 2.4% in the second quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 195,482 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $40,107,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC lifted its stake in Apple by 17.9% in the second quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 5,404 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the period. Finally, Andina Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 209.2% during the 1st quarter. Andina Capital Management LLC now owns 6,786 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,507,000 after acquiring an additional 4,591 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on AAPL. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Apple from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $203.07 to $246.99 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Moffett Nathanson upgraded Apple from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $225.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $300.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, HSBC set a $220.00 price target on Apple and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Two 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.51.

Apple Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Apple stock opened at $278.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $268.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $237.03. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $288.62.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The iPhone maker reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $102.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.65 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 164.05% and a net margin of 26.92%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.64 EPS. Analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total value of $12,101,228.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total transaction of $11,071,116.07. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 228,052 shares of company stock worth $58,604,588. Company 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.