Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Has $3.77 Million Stock Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC reduced its holdings in Apple Inc. by 18.8% in the second quarter, resulting in ownership of 18,353 shares valued at approximately $3.77 million.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings for Apple, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $251.47, while JPMorgan recently raised their price target from $255.00 to $280.00.
• Apple announced a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 0.4%, while insiders have sold over 259,121 shares within the last three months.

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 18.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,353 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 4,260 shares during the period. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $3,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ryan Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC grew its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% during the first 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. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $58,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new stake in Apple during the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Apple during the first quarter worth approximately $99,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AAPL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Phillip Securities cut Apple from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Apple from $255.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued 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 target price of $251.47.

Apple Stock Up 3.9%

AAPL stock opened at $262.24 on Tuesday. Apple Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.21 and a twelve month high of $264.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock's 50 day moving average is $241.83 and its 200-day moving average is $217.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 39.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.09.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The iPhone maker reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.Apple's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Kevan Parekh sold 4,199 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.39, for a total transaction of $1,038,790.61. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 8,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,373.35. This trade represents a 32.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 43,013 shares of Apple stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $257.39, for a total value of $11,071,116.07. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $35,181,866.93. This trade represents a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 259,121 shares of company stock valued at $65,358,981. 0.06% of the stock is 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.

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