Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 0.2%, holding about 975,375 shares, which equates to roughly 6.3% of their portfolio, valued at $200 million.
• Other institutional investors, such as Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC and RB Capital Management LLC, increased their holdings significantly, with increases of 69.7% and 48.1% respectively during the second quarter.
• Apple reported strong quarterly earnings with a revenue of $94.04 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $88.64 billion, and an EPS of $1.57, beating expectations by $0.14.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 0.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 975,375 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,997 shares during the period. Apple comprises 6.3% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $200,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Life Planning Partners Inc acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Apple in the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Conquis Financial LLC acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. Finally, LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Apple

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AAPL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Apple from $190.67 to $205.82 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial restated 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. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $244.03.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $256.29. The company had a trading volume of 13,480,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,306,352. Apple Inc. has a one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $225.30 and a 200 day moving average of $212.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 38.90, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Apple had a net margin of 24.30% and a return on equity of 170.91%. The company had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $88.64 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 issued 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 dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.