Diversified Enterprises LLC Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Diversified Enterprises LLC decreased its holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 81,753 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 1,997 shares during the period. Apple makes up approximately 1.3% of Diversified Enterprises LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Diversified Enterprises LLC’s holdings in Apple were worth $16,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 573,627.2% in 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 buying an additional 205,656,808 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Apple in the 1st quarter valued at about $17,472,482,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Apple by 25,934.1% in 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 buying an additional 59,835,676 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Apple by 13.3% in 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. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 27.4% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Apple

In other Apple news, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 129,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.81, for a total value of $33,375,798.03. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $842,412,558.95. This represents a 3.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 43,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 136,687 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,181,866.93. The trade was a 23.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,922 shares of company stock valued at $64,320,190 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $240.00 price objective (up from $230.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush set a $310.00 price objective on Apple and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, CLSA raised Apple to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $248.29.

Apple Stock Performance

Apple stock opened at $245.27 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $237.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $215.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.09. 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 one year low of $169.21 and a one year high of $260.10.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its quarterly 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. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Apple Inc. will post 7.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Apple Announces Dividend

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

Apple Company 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.