Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Sells 13,940 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. sold 13,940 shares of Apple Inc., decreasing its holdings by 36.5%, leaving the firm with 24,264 shares valued at approximately $5.09 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have adjusted their positions in Apple, with a significant number, including Advanced Portfolio Management and Salus Financial Advisors, increasing their stakes.
• Apple recently reported a quarterly earnings beat, with $1.57 earnings per share against estimates of $1.43, and a revenue of $94.04 billion, reflecting a 9.6% increase year-over-year.

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 36.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,264 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 13,940 shares during the period. Apple makes up 0.9% of Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Apple were worth $5,094,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC increased its position in Apple by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Advanced Portfolio Management LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $3,260,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Salus Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Apple by 3.9% during the first quarter. Salus Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,310 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Sharpepoint LLC increased its stake in Apple by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 1,523 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $322,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC increased its stake in Apple by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Mission Hills Financial Advisory LLC now owns 4,016 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $892,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Financial Network Corp increased its stake in Apple by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 8,720 shares of the iPhone maker's stock worth $2,184,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "hold" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised 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. HSBC set a $220.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wedbush set a $310.00 target price on shares of Apple and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $244.03.

Apple Stock Up 4.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $256.08 on Tuesday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $225.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $212.22. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a P/E ratio of 38.86, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.11. 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 52-week low of $169.21 and a 52-week high of $260.10.

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

Apple Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Monday, August 11th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company 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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