Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Perennial Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Perennial Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.2%, now holding 121,295 shares valued at approximately $24.9 million.
• Institutional investors own 67.73% of Apple's stock, with notable recent movements including a massive increase by Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Apple, with Wedbush and Evercore ISI both giving an "outperform" rating and price objectives of $310.00 and $290.00 respectively.

Perennial Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 121,295 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 2,725 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises 4.6% of Perennial Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Perennial Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $24,886,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Apple by 573,627.2% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 59,835,676 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew 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 purchasing an additional 20,079,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew 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 purchasing an additional 14,651,321 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Apple Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ AAPL opened at $256.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $169.21 and a 12-month high of $260.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $234.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $215.25.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business's revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.40 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Evercore ISI set a $290.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Apple from $300.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Apple to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Apple in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Apple has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $247.49.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of Apple stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.

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