St. Clair Advisors LLC Sells 1,813 Shares of Apple Inc. $AAPL

Key Points

• St. Clair Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Apple Inc. by 2.0%, selling 1,813 shares and holding a total of 88,920 shares which represents approximately 4.8% of its investment portfolio.
• Institutional investors like Norges Bank and GAMMA Investing LLC significantly increased their positions in Apple, highlighting continued strong interest in the stock, with 67.73% currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
• Apple's quarterly earnings beat expectations with $1.57 earnings per share, contributing to a revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, up 9.6% from the previous year.

St. Clair Advisors LLC lowered its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 1,813 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 4.8% of St. Clair Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. St. Clair Advisors LLC's holdings in Apple were worth $18,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter worth about $46,868,648,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Apple in the first quarter valued at approximately $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 59,835,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Apple by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,395,785,512 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $349,532,608,000 after buying an additional 49,168,843 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 20,079,472 shares during the period. 67.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Deirdre O'brien sold 34,821 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.20, for a total transaction of $7,772,047.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at $30,508,538.40. This trade represents a 20.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.06% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Apple Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AAPL opened at $237.88 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $223.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $212.35. Apple Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $169.21 and a fifty-two 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 the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.14. Apple had a return on equity of 170.91% and a net margin of 24.30%.The business had revenue of $94.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $88.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. The company's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Apple Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAPL has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Apple from $173.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Apple from $223.00 to $241.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a report on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Apple from $250.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $241.93.

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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