Apple Inc. $AAPL Holdings Decreased by West Branch Capital LLC

West Branch Capital LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 152,615 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 2,269 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 9.3% of West Branch Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $31,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $39,065,374,000 after acquiring an additional 205,656,808 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Apple by 25,934.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Apple by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its position in Apple by 27.4% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after buying an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Apple

In other news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.79, for a total transaction of $12,101,228.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,005,982.82. This represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s 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 directly owned 136,687 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last three months. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Apple Trading Down 3.5%

Apple stock opened at $245.27 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a 12 month low of $169.21 and a 12 month high of $260.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $237.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $215.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Apple from $260.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Apple in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on Apple from $230.00 to $226.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI set a $290.00 target price on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $248.29.

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.