Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Miller Wealth Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Miller Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. by 1.4% during the second quarter, now holding 162,852 shares valued at approximately $33.4 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have increased their stakes in Apple, indicating continued strong interest among hedge funds.
• Wall Street analysts have raised their target prices for Apple's shares, with estimates reaching as high as $315.00, reflecting optimistic growth forecasts for the company.

Miller Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 162,852 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,239 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 15.6% of Miller Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Miller Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $33,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,400,790,809 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $311,157,662,000 after purchasing an additional 5,005,297 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $39,065,374,000 after purchasing an additional 205,656,808 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Apple by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 171,385,531 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,918,365,000 after purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Apple by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 104,706,358 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $26,220,566,000 after purchasing an additional 13,137,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Apple by 1.0% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 98,099,909 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $21,790,933,000 after purchasing an additional 984,157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on AAPL shares. Rosenblatt Securities increased their target price on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley set a $298.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. CLSA raised shares of Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Sunday, October 5th. Loop Capital raised shares of Apple from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $226.00 to $315.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised shares of 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $251.47.

Insider Activity

In other Apple news, SVP Katherine L. Adams sold 47,125 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 179,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $46,005,982.82. The trade was a 20.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total transaction of $33,375,798.03. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Up 3.9%

AAPL stock opened at $262.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 39.79, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.87. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $264.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $241.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $217.42.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $94.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. Apple's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 11th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 11th. Apple's payout ratio is presently 15.78%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.