NCP Inc. Cuts Position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

NCP Inc. cut its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,054 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 234 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 2.5% of NCP Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. NCP Inc.’s holdings in Apple were worth $4,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Apple during the second quarter valued at $4,405,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of Apple in the 2nd quarter worth about $11,178,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Apple by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 275,702 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock valued at $58,068,000 after acquiring an additional 32,203 shares during the period. Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 15.0% during the second quarter. Gibson Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,894 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,452,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the second quarter worth about $11,587,000. 60.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Apple Price Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $225.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $227.04 and its 200 day moving average is $216.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 37.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.24. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $164.07 and a one year high of $237.49.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $94.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.52 billion. Apple had a net margin of 23.97% and a return on equity of 152.94%. The company’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Apple Inc. will post 7.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Apple’s payout ratio is 16.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 223,986 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $224.46, for a total transaction of $50,275,897.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,280,180 shares in the company, valued at $736,269,202.80. This trade represents a 6.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 61,019 shares of Apple stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.20, for a total value of $13,802,497.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 187,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,309,126.60. This represents a 24.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 404,040 shares of company stock worth $91,062,512 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Apple from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Apple from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $205.00 to $212.92 in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Tigress Financial lifted their price target on Apple from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Maxim Group upped their price target on shares of Apple from $203.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $225.00 target price on shares of Apple in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, twenty-two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $235.51.

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.