Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Magnolia Private Wealth LLC

Magnolia Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,673 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 150 shares during the period. Apple makes up 2.5% of Magnolia Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Magnolia Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $3,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Apple by 573,627.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 25,934.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 60,066,398 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $133,425,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Apple by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $42,918,365,000 after acquiring an additional 20,079,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Apple by 27.4% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 68,190,569 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $13,870,795,000 after acquiring an additional 14,651,321 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $245.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Apple Stock Up 2.0%

AAPL stock opened at $252.29 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two week high of $260.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $241.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $216.91. The stock has a market cap of $3.74 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 11th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 179,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. This trade represents a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $842,412,558.95. The trade was a 3.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 259,121 shares of company stock worth $65,358,981 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by 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.